48 A NOTE ON BROUGH AND BATHUMGATE. 



Under the Roman Empire the workmen in mines, says Pro- 

 fessor Ridgeway, " were slaves, free labourers, soldiers, or 

 criminals. In the latter case there was a militar\' station always 

 near the mines. "^ It is extremely unlikely that Wood knew 

 anything about this Roman practice, even if the information 

 were available in his time. Moreover, he speaks of a penal 

 settlement "during and after the Septarchal ages," by which 

 he appears to mean the Heptarchy. The question then is 

 raised : Were the lead-mines in Bradwell, or its neighbourhood, 

 worked by Roman criminals, who, as the phrase was, had been 

 damnati in metalla, condemned to the mines, and was Anavio 

 intended for a military station near those mines? And the 

 further question arises : Had the embankment called Grey Dyke 

 anything to do with this matter ? 



The answer to the first two questions depends on the value 

 of the tradition. It is certain that tradition, even in this 

 neighbourhood, has preserved historical facts, and that for a 

 very long time. For instance, in Glover's Derbyshire we are 

 told that " adjoining Little Barlow is a very large bog called 

 Leech-field, or Leash-field.^ from which two considerable brooks 

 take their rise, supposed to occupy five or six hundred acres, 

 being between three and four miles in circumference. There 

 is a tradition that a town formerly stood here, from which have 

 arisen the following proverbial lines : — 



When Leech-field was a market town, 

 Chesterfield was gorse and broom ; 



Ncjw Chesterfield's a market town, 

 Leech-field a marsh is grown. 3 

 The tradition is still remembered, and I have heard the 

 concluding lines repeated thus : — 



Now Leech-field it is sunken down. 



And Chesterfield's a market town. 



1 In Smith's Diet, of Greek and Raman Aniiq., ii., i68b., referring to 

 Martjuardt, Staatsverwaltung, ii., 252 seqq. 



2 Leech means lake or fen, and the village was built there for security. 



3 Vol. ii., p. 86. In South Devon they say : 



When Plymouth was a furzy down, 

 Plympton was a market town. 



