ON THE LOCAL MANUFACTURE OF LEAD, ETC. 717 
extent and perfect preservation of some of their large works, and the position 
of the mineral veins in it and the adjacent districts is such as to render it 
almost impossible that lead-veins were unworked. The formation of the great 
military road called the Maiden Way must have exposed to view the mine- 
ralogical characters of the rocks over which it passed, and the lead found in 
the Roman station at Whitley was most probably obtained from the im- 
mediate vicinity. Traces of ancient smelting-places exist, as may be inferred 
from the scorize yet to be found ; but of any detailed operations or exact loca- 
lities there is not, that we are aware of, any records. It is not until about 
six centuries ago that any light appears by which to judge of the state of 
the mining-districts, and even then, and for some centuries after, few and 
far between; and vague and undefined are the indications of lead-mining. 
The insecurity of property at that time, and more especially of Border pro- 
perty, may be noted ; for even then the Kingdom of Scotland included Cumber- 
land, although the mining rights were claimed by the English Crown. In the 
time of Henry IV. a lead-mine is mentioned as having been in Essex ; and 
Sir John Pettus enumerates the following counties as producing lead-ore 
containing silver, namely, Devonshire, Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, Staf- 
fordshire, Leicestershire, Cheshire, Derbyshire, Lancashire, Cumberland, 
Northumberland, Yorkshire, Bishopric of Durham, Flintshire, Denbighshire, 
Shropshire, Carnarvonshire, Merioneth, Buckingham, Montgomery, Carmar- 
then, Brecknock, Monmouth, and Dorsetshires. From this it may be seen 
that for a long period lead-mining operations have been extensively spread 
over a great part of England and Wales, whilst in Scotland the chief works 
were almost confined to Leadhills, a place where gold was formerly ob- 
tained in some abundance. More accurate records would probably throw 
further light on the question whether in mining districts in southern parts 
of the island gold was or was not among the early inducements to search 
for hid treasures. 
In Sir John Pettus’s definition of poor mines and rich mines, or “ mines 
royal,” he states that “where the ore digged from any mine doth not yield 
according to the rules of art so much gold or silver as that the value 
thereof doth exceed the cost of refining, and loss of the baser metal wherein 
it is contained, or from whence it is extracted, then it is called poor ore or 
a poor mine. On the contrary, where the ore digged from any mine doth 
yield according to the rules of art so much gold or silver as that the value 
thereof exceeds the charges of refining and loss of the baser metal in which 
it is retained and from which it is extracted, then it is called rich ore or 
a ‘mine royal,’ and it is appertaining to the king by his prerogative.” In 
this we have the definition of the limits within which it appears the mines 
of Alston were included as Mines Royal, and the importance of which is 
prominently marked in the several charities which the Kings of England 
in several successive reigns conferred by virtue of that prerogative. Sir 
John Pettus states that the mines in Devonshire, Somersetshire, and Corn- 
wall were wrought by the Romans, who in the period of 300 or 400 years 
that they occupied the mining districts of the North of England doubt- 
less exercised their knowledge of the ore, and Cxsar expressly mentions 
that one reason of his invading the Britons was because they assisted 
the Gauls with “the treasures with which their country did abound.” 
It appears moreover that in those times, and long after, the practice was 
to condemn to the mines those who had committed any heinous offence 
against the laws of the land. In the beginning of the fourteenth century 
(1304) mention is made of indemnities granted to mimers in Cornwall, 
