Minerals and Mines. 19 



take of Wirksworth remains in the possession of this latter 

 gentleman's family to this day. In the other lead-mining dis- 

 trict — viz., that of the High Peak — the lease of mineral duties 

 in the Duchy of Lancaster from about the beginning of the 

 seventeenth century to the present day has been vested in the 

 hands of the Dukes of Devonshire.^ The Crown claims all 

 the minerals under lands comprised by the townships of Castle- 

 ton, Bradwell, Hucklow, Winster, Moniash, Taddington, and 

 Upper Haddon, as well as in other parts of the hundred of the 

 High Peak, belonging to the Duchy. But in the Wapentake 

 of Wirksworth some ancient freeholds in Eyam are not in- 

 cluded in the Crown lands, owing to a charter granted by King 

 John whilst Earl of Mortaigne, and previous to his being 

 created Duke of Lancaster.^ 



So far we have only examined the seignorial rights over the 

 Derbyshire minerals ; but what we are most interested in at 

 present is the popular rights, which still survive. In this 

 direction only can we expect to find any traces of the old 

 Celtic tribal polity. We shall now endeavour to show that, as 

 was the case in Ireland, the manorial system introduced by 

 Feudalism is largely intermixed with those popular rights 

 which owe their origin to an earlier economy. 



Answering to that Parliament of twenty-four stannators, 

 which, with its Speaker, administered justice in the Cornish 

 mining districts, we find in Derbyshire twenty-four lead-miners, 

 who, with the stewards and barmasters, compose the Great 

 Barmote Court of the Derbyshire district. From the times 

 when the Danes worked the Odin mine,' on the road from 

 Chapel-le-Frith to Castleton, to the beginning of the seventeenth 

 century, the lead-miners handed down by word of mouth from 

 generation to generation their ancient customs and privileges. 

 From the superstitious days when the divining rod was in 

 general use, and it was a crime for men to whistle over their 



* This historical sketch of the various leases is taken from Mr. A. 

 Stokes' Lead and Lead-Mining in Derbyshire, a paper read before the 

 Chesterfield and Derbyshire Institute of Mining, Civil, and Mechanical 

 Engineers, June 3, 1880. 



'' Id. Ibid. ^ Pilkington's Derbyshire, 2nd ed., p. 98. 



