Letter – Henry Richmond to Thomas Maughan – 13 Aug 1763

To Mr Thos. Maughan at                                                            Newcastle 13th August 1763

Newhouse in Weardale



Sir/ As you say you propose being here the latter end of next week or the beginning of the next following, it may be no inconvenience perhaps to come on Thursday next, wch I desire you will do, & also in the mean time you will inform yourself as particularly as you can, of the prices that Ore has been sold at, to be smelted into Lead for Newc[astle] market, from all the freehold groves in the 2 parishes of Stanhope & Wolsingham. Also inform yourself of the objections that may reasonably be made to Sir Walter’s being concluded by those prices in each year, at w[ha]tever freehold Groves he can give instances of, shall be taken at a medium; & that then the medium price of those annual sales shall be taken for the whole 13 years ending in the 31st Decemr. Last & that the medium price shall be judged to be the price of all Sir Walter’s Ore & that there by his profits shall be computed. Now possibly even the Ore gotten at Newlandside may have been won out of the upper sills; & tho’ out of the same vein as prydale, may be of a better quality than what has been gotten out of sills lower than the workings at Newlandside, for as I understand it the lower sills in Weardale are the worse the ore is found to be pray was there no ore sold at Newlandside in 1750? & is the ore that was raised there in 1761 & 1762 sold or not? I am etc    HR