ROMANO-BRITISH DERBYSHIRE 



on the inscribed lead pigs of Britain, l and an explanation is needed for 

 their appearance. Hiibner suggests that they arc not really private persons, 

 but were connected in some way with the Imperial administration, since 

 the title of the mines is the same on their pigs as on that of Hadrian. 

 Rostowzew thinks them official lessees of the mines from the govern- 

 ment, partly (he says) because they are freedmen. 8 But it seems rash to 

 call four several persons officials or lessees when not one describes himself 

 as such. And it is equally rash to call them freedmen when merely 

 two or perhaps three have Greek cognomens. On the other hand it is 

 difficult to consider them owners. The mineral wealth of the provinces was 

 mainly owned by the Imperial Government. Private owners occur only 

 in the early years of the Empire and they were gradually removed in 

 favour of the government monopoly. In a province conquered so late as 

 Britain, and in particular in the north of Britain, we should hardly expect 

 private owners. Some chance, however, may have brought it about that 

 one portion of the British minerals was at first allowed to rest in the 

 hands of private owners of the commercial class. This view has, at any 

 rate, the merit of suiting the apparently early character of the lettering 

 on the pigs concerned. But under the circumstances it may be well to 

 defer any definite conclusion in the hope of further evidence. 



Secondly, in respect of the dates when the mining began. Our 

 only direct evidence is the pig bearing the name of Hadrian (A.D. 1 17- 

 138). But we may well believe that Roman miners were busy in Derby- 

 shire at least thirty years earlier. For the lead deposits of western York- 

 shire, as for example those lying between Grassington and Pateley Bridge, 

 were worked as early as A.D. 81 (fig. 30 [6]). Yet it is not likely that 

 they were opened up before Derbyshire was touched. But if we try to 

 inquire further, we are met by a puzzling contrast between the evidence 

 of the Derbyshire pigs and that of other Roman remains found near 

 Matlock. The pigs seem to belong to the first or second century. The 

 other remains, as for instance the hoards found near Crich, Cromford, 

 and Darleyin the Dale (see the alphabetical bibliography), belong almost 

 ' wholly to the third or fourth century. There is practically nothing 

 that we can attribute to the age of Hadrian. Further afield the case is 

 different. The fibuhe supposed to have been found in Roman mines 

 near Elton may well be ascribed to the second century, and many other 

 fibulas discovered within the general area of ancient mining, as at 

 Middleton in Youlgreave, belong to the same period. Our records of 

 them are, however, so vague that this evidence helps us little. 



A third difficulty arises with respect to communications. A Roman 

 road can be traced along the western edge of the lead area from Buxton 

 to Brassington, and it probably ran on to Little Chester. But no road is 

 known to lead to Matlock, unless it be the road sometimes thought to 

 run by Knave's Cross (p. 247). The conjecture therefore arises whether 



1 Corf. late. Lat. vii. 1218 (DOCCI VSI) is not a lead pig, but due to an error of Httbner. 

 8 Dizitnario epigrtftco, ii. 586; cp. Staatspacht in der nmischen Kaiserzeit (Leipzig, 1903), p. 451. 

 Hirschfeld, Vervialtungsgeschichte (ed. i), p. 151, inclines to call the four men Iessee5 (conductores). 



229 



