Holograph draft memorandum dating the smith's house back to 1553, i.e. before the creation of the Ordnance Office

Author: Isaac Newton

Source: MINT 19/3/427-8, National Archives, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, UK

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- Revision History
  - 1 January 2001
    - Catalogue information compiled by Rob Iliffe, Peter Spargo & John Young
  - 29 September 2011
    - Catalogue exported to teiHeader by Michael Hawkins
  - 20 March 2017
    - Transcribed by Will Scott
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<427r>

1. The bounds of the Mint are setled by a grant in the Indentures of the Mint under the broad seal above 160 years old, which runs in these words. And his said Majesty doth grant & confirm by these presents that the Officers of the Mint shall at all times have hold & peaceably enjoy all places houses & grounds as well builded as unbuilded within the said Mint which heretofore have been called reputed or taken for the Mint without the medling let or disturbance by the chief Governour Constable Lieutenant or any other Officer or Minister of the Tower. No mention being here made before that Office was erected. The Mint is bounded at both ends by gates in the custody of our Porter, so that no carts with timber bricks or mortar can go in for building without the leave of the Office or negligence of the Porter. The Mint was erected before the Office of Ordnance & always had a Smith, & their Smith usually lived in the house in dispute {ta}{k}ing Smiths to both offices & I know of no other ancient Smiths shop for the Mint. And its more probable that the Office of Ordnance at their first erection, for want of a Smiths shop of their own should use the Smith of the Mint then that the Mint should leave their own Smith with his shop to make use of the Smith of the Ordnance.

2 In the late recoinage of the money our Smith lived in the house in dispute & had a fourge or shop now taken from us, & & half that recoinage was carried on in the Irish Mint now taken from us. And the houses which stand empty or are let, ought to be inhabited by the owners or their Deputies for carrying on the service of the Mint. And our Smith is a different Office from our Engineer when they call our Master Smith. It is not superfluous room that we desire but the conveniency of our offices & their lying together & the safety of the coinage for supporting the credit of the Mint with the Merchant, & the custody of our gates for keeping the Mint quiet while the coinage is going on & the money is carrying in Trays from Office to Office thought the street of the Mint, & that our people may not be discouraged from living in the Mint to attend their business.

3 The Letters Patents to the Smiths of the Ordnance, granting them the place of the Master Smiths of all the Iron Works within the Tower of London – cum mansionibus domibus proficuis emolumentis &c do not extend to all the iron works in the Mint nor alter the property of the houses in which the iron works of the Mint were performed.

4 In the Depositions no mention is made that the Smith of the Ordnance was also Smith of the Mint. And M^r W^m Smith deposeth what was done before he was born Rob^t Fitch deposeth that about the year 1688 or 1689 a Committee of Council came to the Tower to view whether another place in the Tower might be found for the Smith of the Ordnance upon occasion of M^r Slingsby endeavours to remove him. And we have a tradition that the further end of the Mint was then put into the hands of the Office of Ordnance for that purpose. Let them show what other title they have to it.

<428r>

The Mint in the Tower of London was erected before the Office of Ordnan{ce} & in the Indenture made in the first year of Queen Mary (Aug. 20 1553) between her Majesty & her Officers of the Mint there was a covenant in these words. And her said Majesty doth grant & confirm by these present ––– or minister of the Tower No mention being here made of any officer of the Ordnance this grant seems to have been first made not only before that Office had any footing in the Mint but even before that Office was instituted.

In the ninth year of Queen Elizabeth (May 3, 1567) William & Martin Hopkins were made Master Smiths to that Office & Martin died 16 Iuly 1606. And in an Indenture made the 14^th year of Queen Eliz (Apr. 19 1572) William Hopkins is mentioned as being then Smith of the Mint with a salary of 10^li per annum during life. He was therefore Smith to both Offices & the Smith of the Mint lived in the house now in dispute. In the year 1577 this hous was put into several repairs necessary to be done with new materials & therefore was built many years before the year 1567, & might be built for the Smith of the Mint before the Office of Ordnance was erected, & now might be repaired by the Office of Ordnance, by consent of the Mint, in recompence for the use they made of it, & to make it more fit for that use.