Rough holograph draft, partly struck through, of MINT00825 (Mint 19/3/433)
May it please your Lordship
Light night a Letter (a copy of which is annexed) was sent to us from the Officers of the Ordnance wherein they represent that the Barracks they have are not sufficient for re{illeg}{illeg}tion of the third Regiment of Guardes now to be lodged in the Tower & desires us to deliver them the a buliding conteining a mill room & Smiths Shop to be fitted up into Barracks. The state of the matter is this.
In the Indenture of the Mint Her Majesty & her Predecessors have granted under the Broad seale, that the Officers of the Mint shall at all times hold have & peaceably enjoyed all places houses & grownds as well builded as unbuilded within the said Mint which heretofore have been called reputed or taken for the Mint without Medling, Let or Disturbance by the chief Governour Constable Lieutenant or any other Officers or Ministers of the Tower. Pursuant to this grant the Mint was cleared of forreigners by Order of Council about 50 years ago. A few years after, Barracks & some houses for people not belonging to the Mint were built upon the further end of the Irish Mint at the charge of the Office of Ordnance as we have heard. In the year 1695 the Barracks were turned into Millrooms at the charge of the Mint for the recoinage of the hammered money. After the recoinage one of the Millrooms conteining three Mills & the Garret of the other were turned into Barracks, the other conteining two Mills was kept for the coinage of copper money, & a smiths shop between the mill rooms is now made use of by the Smith who makes the Dyes & Puncheons for the Graver. This shop & the double Mill room the Officers of the Ordnance desire to have turned into Barracks.
We have as we conceive an untroubled right to the ground but do not insist upon it against her Majestys {servi}{ce} We have no other shop for making the Dyes & Puncheons the places where they used to be made being in the hands of the Officers of Ordnance: nor do we know where to build a new one. To build a new double Millroom for copper money will be chargeable & we know not where to find either money or a place to build it. Vnder the Millroom where the Mill-horses are to go round is laid up a great quantity of her Majestys Tinn, & We shall want Warehouse room. By grants ratified from time to time under the broad seal we have an undoubted right to the grownd on which these buildings stand, but submit it to her Majestys pleasure.
Your Lordships most humble & most obedient servant
<439v>but submitt it to her Majesties pleasure. The safety of the coinage of Gold & Silver & encouragement of Importers for increasing the money is also to be considered, & how far it is consistent with the lodging of many soldiers in the Mint.
We do not think it advisable to do any thing in this Affair without your Lord{ships} Order & therefore have stated the matter to your Lordship being ready to observe your Lordships direction therein. We are
My Lord
