History

A prerogative right to mines has been exercised by the Crown for centuries. Along with gold and silver this did at one time include copper, iron, lead and tin, but was curtailed by a seventeenth century Act of Parliament. An Act of 1688 declared that no mine of copper, tin, iron or lead should be royal mine, although gold and silver could be extracted.

The revenues were administered by the Exchequer, but passed to the Auditors of Land Revenues and, in the early nineteenth century, the Commissioners of Woods, Forests and Land Revenues. Today, the prerogative rights to gold and silver are part of The Crown Estate. This is true for all of the UK although in the past, in some limited areas in Scotland, this right has been transferred from the Crown by ancient charter.

So it is that mines of gold and silver continue to be referred to as the ‘Mines Royal’.

If you have any further enquiries regarding Mines Royal, please contact:

The Crown Estate mineral agent
Wardell Armstrong LLP
Sir Henry Doulton House
Forge Lane
Etruria
Stoke on Trent
ST1 5BD

telephone 0845 111 7777
fax 0845 111 8888