Derbyshire lead mining history

Lutudarum (believed to have been at either Wirksworth or nearby Carsington) was the administrative centre of the Roman lead mining industry in Britain.

The north choir aisle of Wirksworth church is dominated by a far more ostentatious monument, a large ornate alabaster chest tomb, a memorial to Ralph Gell of Hopton, who died in 1563.

The simple figure of the miner bears witness to the fact that for centuries the people of Wirksworth and their neighbours relied on lead mining.

While Derbyshire lead made Gell and others rich, for poor families it was both a living and an adventure, with the possibility of a better life from a lucky find.

Lead ore was Crown property in most places and the mining area of Derbyshire under royal control was known as the King's Field, with two separately administered divisions, the High and Low Peaks, each further divided into liberties, based on parishes.

They used probes to check for signs of ore in soil a few feet under the surface and dug exploratory holes or trenches in promising places.

This was usually done to choose the best places to sink shafts ahead of existing working and the rules defined when and where these activities could be carried out.

The miners' equipment included picks, hammers and wedges to split the rock, wiskets or baskets to contain it, corves or sledges to drag it to the shaft bottom, and windlasses or stows, to lift it to the surface.

After a mid-16th-century slump the industry recovered, new mines were opened on Middleton Moor, and production increased, a recovery mainly due to technical developments.

In each case the object was to allow the heavier, lead-rich, particles to sink, enabling those containing lighter, unwanted minerals to be skimmed off the top and removed.

The coveted and valuable farm of the Duchy of Lancaster's right to the lead mine duties, coupled as it was with the office of chief barmaster, endowed its owner with both a considerable income and authority over the running of the industry.

In addition to helping the barmasters to carry out their duties the 24 jurors brought practical experience to bear when the Barmote Court was adjudicating in disputes and trials.

The barmaster or his deputy granted title in a mine, the usual name for which was grove or groove, on receipt of proof that it was viable.

The deputy barmasters were responsible for settling disputes over ownership or of arresting or suspending operation of mines pending decisions of the Barmote Court.

In conjunction with the jury of 24 sitting at the Barmote Courts, the deputy barmasters adjudicated in disputes and enforced compliance with the customs of the mines.

Their duties extended to acting as the coroner in the case of fatal accidents, where a specially summoned jury of twelve or thirteen local miners decided the cause of death.

For historical reasons the structure of the industry was different in the High Peak where, mainly because of very long leases, there had been a blurring of the Duchy's authority, and the two largest landowners, the Manners and Cavendish families, maintained claims to mining rights and dues.

Their Cavendish neighbours at Chatsworth, after a period of conflict, adopted the same pattern as the Gells at Griffe Grange, collecting the dues from mines run by Duchy of Lancaster rules.

The barmasters' accounts for 1653[38] show that the ore from the Brassington, Middleton and Wirksworth liberties, all low producers at the time, consisted of small amounts mined by a large number of names.

Clearly, in these liberties, at this time, it was the small-time miners, most of whom would have had other sources of income, usually farming, who were paying their dues and selling to the lead merchants and smelters.

The current owners of the smelter on the site of the former Mill Close mine at Darley Bridge have bought much of the adjoining land and turned arable and pasture into woodland, to avoid the danger to crops and animals.

The danger to plants and animals, particularly from washing or "buddling", has been known for centuries and the nuisance to the people of Brassington described above was typical of the conflict between farmers and miners.

Vermuyden's was followed by a succession of soughs which by the end of the century had drained enough of the mines in the Wirksworth Wapentake to cause a dramatic rise in production in the whole area.

Drainage of the mines in the whole of the Wirksworth area was eventually accomplished by the Meerbrook Sough, begun at the level of the river Derwent in 1772, at a time when lead-mining ventures had become only intermittently profitable.

[45] Water-powered smelting mills were restricted to riverside sites and "white coal" fuel required a good supply of timber.

The ore was loaded from a hopper into a concave furnace with a low, arched roof and a tall chimney or a flue at the opposite end from the combustion chamber.

The flames and heated gases from the fuel were drawn across the charge by the draught from the chimney and beaten down by reverberation from the low roof.

Since no water power was needed the cupola had a fourth theoretical advantage of being freed from the riverside location of the blast furnace, and able to be placed in the most convenient site for supply of ore and coal.

The Derbyshire lead industry declined after the late 18th century because of worked-out veins, increased production costs and the discovery of much cheaper foreign sources.

A reduction in the duty in 1820 and its abolition in 1845[46] brought a steep rise in the volume of lead imported into England and accelerated the local industry's decline.