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<$\x Dcrt£*i)tvf pittmfccvg, ox Wordings 

 in ILcatJ. 



By J. Charles Cox, LL.D. 



T is more than probable that the dressing and smelting of 

 lead ore were among the first arts known and practised in 

 Derbyshire. There can be no doubt that the lead mines 

 of Derbyshire were known and worked before the Roman invasion. 

 The Romans made great use of lead. Several pigs of Derbyshire 

 lead have been found at different times, bearing inscriptions 

 stamped upon them by their Roman founders.* They used the 

 material for the baths that they constructed in every villa they 

 erected, and for the larger ones at the hot springs, such as those 

 at Buxton. Coffins of this metal were also occasionally used by 

 the same people ; an ornamental Roman coffin of lead was found 

 at Sittingbourne in 1879. t Derbyshire lead was used for the 

 burial of St. Guthlac in the eighth century, and for the roofing of 

 Canterbury Cathedral in the ninth century. The Pipe Rolls of 

 Henry II. show how wide was the use of Derbyshire lead in the 

 Norman period ; within three years in that reign, we find it being 

 used for the castle at Windsor, and for the churches of Boston and 

 Waltham.J 



But our present concern is not with the smelting of lead, or the 

 extensive use of the metal from this county in early and medieval 



* Wood-cuts and descriptions of these pigs were given in the Derbyshire 

 Archaeological Journal, Vol. vii., pp. 63-69. 



t Arcliaologia Cantiana, Vol. xvi. 



% Derbyshire Archtrolagical Journal, Vol. viii., p. 41. 



