minery

English

Etymology

From Medieval Latin mineria, minaria, from Old French miniere.

Noun

minery (plural mineries)

1. (archaic) A mining business.
   • 1860 December 15, The Jurist, volume VI., number 310, London: H. Sweet; V. & R. Stevens & Sons; Dublin: Hodges, Smith, & Co., published 1861, pages 1237–1238:

     Therefore I have come to the conclusion that the water, being supplied by surface springs, flowing naturally into the Priddy Minery, the defendant, by digging a trench which intercepts the flow of that water from these springs, has intercepted the legal right of the plaintiff Mr. Ennor, and that Mr. Ennor has established a sufficient bonâ fide case of an interruption, would flow down to his land, and is therefore entitled to the protection of the Court. The only remaining part of the case is as to the water which rises between the south bank of the reservoir and the boundary wall between the two mineries.

   • 1902, The Mining Engineer, page 529:

     On the margin of the skin will be found a rude representation of a huntsman with dogs in pursuit of what is presumably a fox, thus recalling the early pastimes of the Forest; and within its precincts are indicated several mineries or lead-works, which were established on these hills, including Priddy minery and Chewton minery, where The Institution of Mining Engineers had met, also the West minery, near Charterhouse, and the Harptree minery, which were no longer in operation. It would thus appear, that each Lord Royal had a chief minery for the dressing and treatment of ore within his own territory, the large deposit of slags and slimes found at these mineries not being the result of mining carried on in their immediate vicinity, but the residuum from ore brought from other parts of the hill.

   • 1930, J. W. Gough, The Mines of Mendip, page 89:

     The four mineries are clearly marked and named on the old maps; they were Priddy Minery, Chewton Minery, Harptree Minery, and West Minery, and though the maps are far from being drawn to scale, the positions of the mineries are unmistakable, for they are conspicuous to-day by the heaps of refuse and the ruins of buildings erected in the nineteenth century by the companies that extracted lead from the old slags.