It is interesting to note that printing was early introduced into Devonshire. In 1525 the fifth printing-press in England was set up in Tavistock. There are paper-mills at Cullompton, iron-works near Kingsbridge, glove-factories at Torrington, umber-works at Ashburton, tanneries and shoe-factories at Crediton, and agricultural implement works at Exeter.
Ship-building Yard, Brixham
In addition to the very important Government works at Devonport and Keyham dockyards, there is a considerable amount of ship and boat-building, especially on the Dart and at Brixham, and the industry employs altogether about 3500 men.
[15. Mines and Minerals.]
There was a time when mining, especially tin-mining, was the most important industry of Devonshire. Traces left all over Dartmoor show that at a very early period tin was obtained there by the process called "streaming," that is to say by the washing of grains of the metal out of the disintegrated and crumbling granite. Vast numbers of abandoned shafts sunk in search of tin, copper, iron, manganese, and even silver, remain, together with their too often ugly buildings, as evidence of the former magnitude of the industry. At the present day, however, only twenty-four mines are in active operation, providing employment for no more than 700 men, who, in 1907, raised less than 1700 tons of metal of all descriptions.
The tin-miners of Devon and Cornwall were early formed into a corporate body whose affairs were managed by a Stannary parliament that met on Hingston Down. At a later period, probably at the beginning of the fourteenth century, the Devonshire men held their own parliament, which assembled on Crockern Tor. They were governed by a Warden—Sir Walter Ralegh held the office for some years—appointed by the Duchy of Cornwall, who collected the Duchy dues or royalties, and having ascertained the purity of each block of tin by "coinage," that is, by cutting off for analysis a "coin" or corner, stamped it with the Duchy arms. A miner convicted of selling impure tin was punished by having some of the melted metal poured down his throat. Lydford, Tavistock, Chagford, and Ashburton were called Stannary Towns, since at each of those places blocks of tin might be tested; and the arbitrary nature of the Stannary Court is hinted at in the proverbial expression: "Lydford Law; hang first and try afterwards."