Roman Mining Operations on the Borders of Wales. 299 



tlie Romans came to these parts, all these veins cropped out on 

 the surface on the western side of the hill. The Romans, who 

 considered lead as a very valuable metal, were not likely to 

 overlook so open a manifestation of great wealth, for the ore 

 in this locality is particularly rich, and this locality was without 

 doubt the scene of some of their earliest mining operations. 

 Lead is the only metal produced from the British mines of which 

 we find the pigs bearing the imperial marks, and these pigs 

 have been found in rather considerable numbers. All such 

 pigs of the Roman period hitherto found under circumstances 

 which would lead us to suppose that they came from the Shelve 

 hill mines bear the same mark, that of the Emperor Hadrian 

 (a.d. 117 — 138), in the simple form — 



IMP . HADKIANI . AVG 



from which it would appear that the mines were in great activity 

 in the earlier part of the second century. Three of the pigs of 

 lead with this inscription are well preserved ; one found on 

 Mr. More's own property is to be seen among the curiosities 

 at Linley Hall; another, found in the parish of Snead, near 

 Linley, is now in Mr. Joseph Mayer's museum, at Liverpool; 

 and a third, found in the last century at Snailbeach, is de- 

 posited in the British Museum. With these facts before us, 

 it is more than probable that it was to this locality that Pliny 

 referred, when, writing before a.d. 79 (when he died), he says, 

 that lead (which he calls nigrum plumbum, to distinguish it 

 from plumbum album, or tin), was found in Britain so plentifully 

 on the surface of the ground, that it was thought necessary to 

 pass a law to limit its extraction.* 



The remains of the Roman workings on this spot are of a 

 very remarkable character. Pliny's description of the lead 

 as found summo terrce corio, on the very skin of the earth, 

 was here literally true, for some eight or nine parallel veins 

 came out upon the surface of the rock, and all these the 

 Romans worked, beginning apparently from the bottom of the 

 hill, and following the vein into the rock, as far as they could 

 trace it. The remains of their labours are visible along the 

 whole surface of the hill, like irregular cuttings along a large 

 cheese ; but it presents the most remarkable appearance at a 

 spot near the northern end, where, at the foot of the hill, a 

 mine called the Roman Gravel Mine is now in operation. The 

 way in which the Roman miners followed the veins of ore is 

 here exhibited in the most remarkable manner. Where it did 

 not appear to run deep they soon stopped, and have left but a 



* Wigro plumbo ad fistulas laminasque utimus, laboriosius in Hispania eruto 

 totasque per Grallias, sed in Britanni summo terree corio adeo large, ut lex dicatur ne 

 plus certo modo fiat. Plin. Nat. Hist, lib. xxxiv. cap. 17. 



