History of the smith's house since 1577 and of disputes between the Mint and the Ordnance Office as to which of them owns it

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To their Excellencies the Lords Iustices the Memorial of Sr Is Newton

May it please your Excellencies

Most humbly sheweth

In ye Indenture made between his Maty & the Master & Worker of his Mint there is a clause in these words. 'And his said Majty doth grant & confirm by these presents that the Officers of the Mint shall have hold at all times have hold & peacably enjoy all places houses & grounds as well builded as unbuilded within the sd Mint wch have 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. This grant is of above 160 years standing as I find by copies of old Indentures And no mention being made therein of any Officer of the Ordnance, it seems to have been made before that Office was erected.

About the year 1577 a Smith shop in the Mint was put into repair by the Office of Ordnance & may have been since frequently repaired by them. And the same smith has usually (if not always, till of late) been Smith of the Mint, & had a fourge at the end of the Mill-rooms for making Dyes & Puncheons for the Mint

When the coinage was set on foot by the Mill & Press (wch was in ye year 1665,) there was an Order of Council for removing all strangers out of the Mint; but this Smith was not removed{illeg}: whether because he was Smith to both Offices or for any other reason I do not know.

Mr Slingsby about {illeg}80 years ago endeavoured to remove this Smith of the Ordnance out of the Mint & for that end a Committee of Council came to the Mint Tower to view whether another place in the Tower might not be found for him to work in & the further end of the Mint was put into the hands of the Office {illeg} of Ordnance & a new gate built for bounding the Mint at that end. And there is a tradition in the Mint that thae Office of Ordnance was thereupon to have quitted the Smiths shop. But Mr Slingsby soon after falling into trouble & {illeg} in the beginning of the reign of K. Iames the Mint being turned into a garrison, the shop continued in the hands of the Office of Ordnance, & about 21 years ago they rebuilt it, I[{illeg}& defended their doing so by the annexeda Letter sent to the Treasury a copy of wch is hereunto annexed. And on the 23d of Febr. last I received {illeg} from them they sent us a Letter a copy of wch is also hereunto annexed, to wch no answer has been returned in writing for want of a Board. But I told them in writin that we had no authority to treat with them as desired or to do any thing contrary to the above mentioned Indenture. And upon my proposing to refer it to the Kings Cousel at Law, I was toldanswered that they would submit to no determination but that of the King himself & directed{illeg} to lay the matter beforeacquaint your Excellencies with this matter before the Kings return.] & are now building more houses in the Mint.

Wherefore your Memorialist most humbly prays yor Excellencies, that the Surveyor of the Ordnance may be oredered to desist from building untill the cases right sh case be examined & the bounds of the Mint be so fully & expressly setled by his Mats authority as may prevent these disputes for the future, & render the coinage safe for encouraging Merchants to import their gold & silver, & leave sufficient room for building more Mills & Furnaces when ever it shall be necessary & also for building a house for our Porter, & that the Gates of the Mint may still remain in his custody for the safety of the coinage.

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In this Letter they plead that represent that we lie our selves bring strangers into the Mint, wch but this is a disorder & disorders ought to be remedied & not drawn into precedent & made incurable,. They represent that we have rea also

Answer

The law wch settles the bounds of the Mint {illeg}are setled by a covenant under the bread seal above 160 years old, & the smiths shop is within those bounds, the late regreatcoinage was not carried on without the what one now want they are now present of contend for. Our Smith dwell in the Smiths house during the late great coinage the did our busines in & fourge now taken from us & we barringthen used the Irish now in their custodynot in our custody [& they Officers of t have taken my garden from{illeg} me & spared their own.] And if any Off The hous and millingOfficers houses in the Mint were built for them to live in & attend their {illeg}buisiness of the Mint, & if any of those houses stand empty or are let to strangers it is [a fault & ought not to be drawn into president] not because we have too much room but because our Officers have beenn discourged from living in their housesMint as well by the moist air & the disturbance noise & smoke of the{illeg} Smiths four ges & the neighbourhood of soldiers &c. And our Engineer wch they can gun Master Smith wch they mention is {sic} our Engineers & his whose Office is very different from that our Smith, & & ought not to be confounded with him.

{illeg}As the gratits made to Hopkins, Piasso, Tayte, Hodgskins to be Master Smithe of all the Iron works wthin the Tower of London to hold the same during life a Mansion, donnbus proficuis emolumentis proficuis &c do not extend to the buisiness of the Mint, so it is not necessary that they should extend to the houses in the Mint. The words cum ousibe manionibes donibes {illeg}Mr Hodgskins & his successor Mr Silversters & the sons of Mr Silverster were Smiths of the {illeg} Mint as well as of the Ordnace & their predecessors might be so, For it does there is no memory of any other Smiths ship for the Smith of the Mint then this in dispute. This house was repaired in the year 1577 & might be built many before, & that fo by the Mint for their Smith. For the Mint hath had a Smith ever since it was a Mint & by consequence before the Office of Ordnance was erected. And its more probable that yat Office at its first erection, should for want of a smiths shop of their own, should make use of the Smith of the Mint for doing their coarse work, then that the Mint should leave their own smith with his shop to make use of the Smith & shop of the Ordnance for making & mending their coining tools.

To the Rt Honble the Lords Commrs of his Mats Treasury

May it please yor Lordps

In answer to the Memorialists