Witness Deposition – Ralph Dixon – 8 Oct 1686

Ralph Dixon of Wolsingham in the County of Durham Blacksmith aged forty & Six or thereabouts Sworne & examined Saith as followeth.



8: To the Eighth Interrogatory this Depon[en]t Saith That he doth know that the Said Defend[an]t bought Severall quantities of Lead Oar at Lunehead in Yorkshire & in Austinmoor in Cumberland where the Plt [Plaintiff] was noe way interested since February in the year One thousand Six hundred Seventy & Six which were brought to the Said Defend[an]ts Mills  & the same bought Oar this Depon[en]t hath seen mixed with the Defend[an]ts own Oar, And this Depon[en]t was imployed as a Smelter & Smith about all the said Mills for about fourteen years last past & in that time hath helped to mix the Said bought Oar at the Said Mills with the Defend[an]ts own Oar & there helped & see them Smelted together which made the Defend[an]ts Oar Smelt & run to a great advantage. And this Depon[en]t Saith That it is the usuall method & course amongst Owners of Lead Mines to buy Oar at other Mines & mix the Same with the Oar of their own Mines which by com[m]on experience is & hath been found to be very advantageous & to p[ro]duce more Lead than their Own Oar would doe without such mixture.



11: To the Eleventh Interrogatory this Depon[en]t Saith That for above twenty years since he knows it to have been the constant & usuall practice of the Defend[an]t & other Owners of Lead Mines to account with their Miners & Oar-Carryers by Tally; And they appoint always a day of reckoning when the Owners or their Servants & the Miners & Oar-Carryers are all present & the Miners p[ro]duce the Stock & the Oar Carriers the Swatch of the Tallies & the name of the Grove & Oar-Carryers is sett upon the Stocks. And then they compare the Same together & if they agree the Tally is broken because the Miners and Oar-Carryers are thereupon paid off their wages. And this Depon[en]t hath been often present at Such reckonings & Seen Tallies broken upon the account aforesaid. And this Depon[en]t hath been credibly informed that that was the ancient practice amongst them beyond all memory. And this Depon[en]t Saith That if if that Method or reckoning Should be altered, it would occasion many Errors mistakes & Differences amongst the Miners & Oar Carriers they being for the most part illiterate in this Depon[en]ts Judgm[en]t.



13.  To the thirteenth Interrogatory this Depon[en]t Saith That Thomas Mowbray (the Plts [Plaintiffs] Agent imployed to take an account of what Lead Oar went to Scotcheale Mill from the Defend[an]ts Mines) is a man very much given to drink & often in the Alehouse drinking & often absent drawing Bills bonds & other writings, & sometimes working at the Smith's Shopp, & at other times at other places, & cannot possibly (as this Depon[en]t conceives) take at Wolsingham (the place appointed him for the purpose aforesaid) an exact account of what Oar-horses goe through Wolsingham belonging to the Defend[an]t or are brought from his Mines the Same being a com[m]on road for Coal-horses, & for Oar-Carriers for Severall other p[er]sons to Newcastle & other places, And this Depon[en]t Saith That the Said Mowbray Severall times hath come to this Depon[en]ts shopp & asked him & his Servants what Oar-horses had passed by this & that time; and this Depon[en]t & his Serv[an]ts would often have told the Said Mowbray twenty or thirty or such number of Oar horses had lately passed by when not one Oar-horse went by; And this Depon[en]t verily believes that the Said Mowbray upon such Informac[i]on Sett down Such number of Oar-horses to the Defend[an]ts account & as his Oar-horses that came from his Mines & were carried to his Mills; And this Depon[en]t Saith That he hath Seen the Said Mowbray Sett down Sixteen Oar-horses as the Defend[an]ts when there was but twelve horses, & this Depon[en]t reproved him for doing that wrong, & he answered this Depon[en]t that it was nothing to him or to that effect. And in his absence he imploys his wife & Children, And this Depon[en]t Saith he knows that That Severall great quantities of Oar are carried through Wolsingham to the Said Scotcheal-Mill which doe not come from the Mines farmed by the Said Defend[an]t as p[ar]ticularly from Lunehead, Dufton, Austenmore, & other places.

      Ralph Dixon