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lis eal 
“<P 
63 
Ow the Early History of Utivksworth and 
tts Head Mining. 
By WIiLu1AM Wess, M.D. 
alLRKSWORTH is a town of considerable antiquity. 
It derives its name from two Anglo-Saxon words* 
= weorc, work, and zveorthig, land or estate, which 
mean a work or labour estate, and it is stated on the authority 
of Camden to have received this name by reason of the neigh- 
bouring lead works. The use of the word /or, rock, a word 
believed to be of Phcenician origin, has led some authorities 
to believe that the Phoenicians and ancient merchants of Gaul 
traded in Derbyshire, as they are known to have done in counties 
adjacent to the coast. It may be said very safely that the work of 
lead mining has been pursued in Derbyshire from time immemo- 
rial. Lead miners are constantly in their workings coming upon 
old grooves, or works, which they call the ‘old man,’ meaning 
thereby that the works were wrought in a large majority of instances 
in the distant ages of the past ; but when or by whom history tells 
not. 
At the Norman survey, Werchesuorde (Wirksworth) had a priest, 
a church, and sixteen villanes, and nine bordars, having seven 
ploughs. Historians tell us that the manor was the property of 
the King; although the neighbouring hamlets of Bradebune 
(Bradburne) and Branzinctun (Brassington), were possessed by 
* Derbyshire Archzological Society’s Journal, vol. ii., page 70. 
