A NOTE ON BROUGH AND BATHUMGATE. 47 



The witnesses allowed me to write down their words in my 

 note-book as they were speaking. 



If this tradition is genuine it is valuable ; if it has arisen 

 from an expression of opinion by some antiquary, or writer, 

 it is no value at all. I have searched in county histories and 

 guide-books for these " transports " or convicts. Glover, in his 

 History, etc., of the County of Derby, says (i. 228): — "The 

 word ' Tor ' is a common name for a mountain in the north 

 of this county, and it is a word of Phoenician derivation; and 

 the meaning of many of the terms still in use among the miners 

 can only be traced to an Asiatic source, which seems to go 

 far in proving that the mineral treasures of the country were, 

 at a very early period, wrought either by a colony of foreigners 

 from the East, or under their direction. The miners anciently 

 possessed extraordinarj' power and privileges, probably derived 

 from these settlers from the East." There is no mention of 

 convicts here. 



But another author is more explicit. Writing from Eyam, 

 where he lived, in 1862, W. Wood says: — 



" That the inhabitants of this mountainous locality, genera- 

 tions back, should have been rough, uncouth ; yea, even 

 savage and ferocious, may be accounted, if not apologised 

 for, by the generally stated fact that the north of Derby- 

 shire was, during and after the Septarchal ages, a penal 

 settlement; that criminals were sent to work in mines (tinder 

 captains) as a fit punishment for certain crimes. '- 

 I take it that the words " generally stated fact " mean a 

 tradition which Wood had heard, and that the words " Sept- 

 archal ages ' and " under captains " (which he prints in italics) 

 are embellishments of his own. As will be seen at once by a 

 perusal of his book. Wood made no distinction between tra- 

 dition and inventions of his own. He does, however, report 

 some genuine folk-lore, such as that about Dick of Tunstead, 

 m a " doctored " shape.^ 



1 Tales and Traditions of the High Peak, p. 57. 



- The same tradition exists also at Wirksworth — a verv ancient centre 

 for the lead industry. The " Hope and Anchor " public-house in the 

 Market Place, now owned and occupied bv Mrs. Budworth, is the reputed 

 former residence of the " Captain of the Convicts." — Editor. 



