“I, John Varcoe, farmer, resident in Treloar, of the parish of St. Denis, in the county of Cornwall, have this day agreed with Thomas Minton, of Stoke-upon-Trent, in the county of Stafford, to let to the said Thomas Minton all my right of lower tin bounds in Trelavour Common, for the purpose of the water for washing china clay, so long that Thomas Minton, or his representatives, may carry on the clayworks in Lord Arundel’s lands, or in Hendra Common--but not to hinder any streaming--with privilege of making pools for the use of the works, at the yearly rent of one pound and eleven shillings and sixpence, to commence at Michael. next. As witness our hands the 26th day of July, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-nine. “JOHN VARCOE. THOMAS MINTON. “Signed in the presence of CHARLES BAGNALL. JAMES KENT.” Difficulties of all kinds sprung up. Sometimes the water-courses were obstructed; robbery of all kinds was going on; and there were also the exacting demands of lords of the manor to battle with and satisfy. Bad roads, imperfect machinery and methods of getting the minerals, were other stubborn facts tending to abate “the pleasures of landlordism.” The property was within three miles of St. Austel, but Charlestown was then the port of shipment, and the cost of transit thither in waggons over the wretched roads was 8_s._ per ton; cost of raising, working, and casking, £1 15_s._; and other expenses, raised the value free on board there to £4 15_s._ Freight from Charlestown to Liverpool 12_s._, dues 2_s._ 6_d._, canal freight to the Potteries, 11_s._ 6_d._, and making a moderate allowance for capital invested, the clay could not be delivered at less than £6 15_s._ per ton.[43] As a trading concern the Hendra Company was not a profitable one; but it afforded the proprietors for twenty years a supply of good and pure material, and checked any attempt at monopoly. The clay mines were abandoned, but as there were good tin lodes on the property, and other minerals, the investment proved not a bad one.