"Neare this Pillar

lieth the Body of old Robert
Eskriggee of Eskrigge and
Richard his son and Robert
his grandson Robert
Eskrigge of Winnick Clerk.
fixed me here and Richard

and Robert their heires

now appeare 1696.

Non imagina loquamur sed vivunt."

On the floor of the central aisle is a handsome flat tombstone to one of the Pearsons of Storrs Hall, in this parish; whose representative, Mr. F. Fenwick Pearson, still resides at Storrs Hall, and is the owner of the great tithes of Gressingham.

Over the door on the south side of the church is the portion of a quaint old organ, of diminutive size, which formerly did duty in this country church. The font is plain, and may be ancient. It is placed under the tower at the west end of the church. In the vestry is a fine old oak chest and two old oak chairs.

The south aisle of the church is disfigured by an unsightly modern tomb, to the memory of a member of the Marton family of Capernwray Hall.

By a natural transition we pass from the church to a brief account of some of those who have ministered there.

The earliest curate of Gressingham of whom I can find any trace is John Fawcett, whose will, proved at Richmond in 1590, is preserved at Somerset House; as is also the administration of his successor, James Thornton, who died in 1638. During the Commonwealth period John Syll was the "painful minister", as he is quaintly described in the records of the time. Another Commonwealth minister was Henry Kidson, who died as vicar of the adjoining parish of Claughton. He was succeeded by Richard Thompson, mentioned above, whose will was proved in 1724. To him followed Alexander Bagott, B.A., of Christ's College, Cambridge, who lies interred with his wife and son at the east end of the church of Gressingham, where he ministered for thirty-four years. Close to him lies his successor, Robert Armitstead, also

1898

18

incumbent of Claughton. In 1807 John Atkinson, possibly of Clare Hall, Cambridge, became curate, and was followed in 1808 by Richard Davis. He was succeeded by William Nelson, schoolmaster at Kellett, whose tomb is found on the north wall of the church at the east end. He was eighteen years vicar, and was followed in 1838 and 1859 respectively by William Stratton, father and son, both of whom lie buried in the churchyard close to the last vicar, Mr. Maynard, of Trinity College, Dublin, who only died last year, and was succeeded by the present vicar, the Rev. Thomas Mercer.

Among other points of interest in the village and neighbourhood may be mentioned a cell near the vicarage, once the residence of a hermit, retaining the ancient windows. Another striking feature is Mr. Pearson's residence at Storrs Hall, and a curious inscription over the door there in Latin which may be thus interpreted: "It is mine now afterwards of him (probably meaning his son), but afterwards I know not of whom." Other houses of interest are Gowin Hall, Gressingham Hall, the Old Hall, and Eskrigge, all farmhouses well worthy of a visit.

A study of the place-names of the district reveals the following amongst other names: "The Fleets, Lawns House, Biggins, Sandbeds, Borrands (similarly named to the famous Roman fort in Cumberland), The Snab, Kitclow, Overhall, Swinestringes."

Many old families are crowded round in the farm-houses of the neighbourhood, and have lived for generations on the soil, e.g., Pearson, Chippindale, Parker, Waller, Wood, Eskrigge, Johnson, Waters, Croft, Garnett, Fox, Dickonson, Widder, Denny, Chapman, Prickett, Wilson, Storrs, Townson, Tunstall, Burton, and Copeland.

In conclusion, my cordial thanks are due to Messrs. W. O. Roper, F.S.A., Fenwick Pearson, and J. S. Slinger, for much kindly help in the preparation of this paper, and to Councillor Alexander Satterthwaite and Mr. J. B. Briggs, for the photographs of Overton and Gressingham respectively.

(Read April 18th, 1894. Revised Sept. 1898).

N April 1894, some notes which I had compiled were read before the British Archæological Association on the then recent discovery of a most interesting pig of lead on Tansley Moor, near Matlock, Derbyshire. In the neighbourhood

of Matlock four pigs of the Roman period have been found and recorded. The earliest in date of manufacture was found in 1787 on Matlock Moor, and remained for some years in the possession of a Mr. Molesworth, but its present whereabouts is unknown. We learn the inscription, however, from the fact that four pigs bearing the same inscription were found in 1824, near Pulborough, in Sussex. One of these is in the British Museum, another at Parham Park, Pulborough, and the other two have disappeared. The weight of the Derbyshire example was 173 lbs. ; that in the British. Museum is 184 lbs. The inscription reads:

TI. CL. TR. LVT. BR. EX. ARG.

Hübner expands the inscription thus, though he indicates doubt as to the third and fourth words :

Ti(berii) Claudii) Tr(ophimi) Lut(udense) Br(itannicum) ex arg(ento).

The next example was found on Cromford Nether Moor, in the parish of Wirksworth, in 1777, and was preserved by Peter Nightingale, Esq., of Lee, who gave

it to the British Museum in 1797. It measures 22 ins. by 5 ins., 3 ins. deep, and weighs 127 lb. On the face it bears the following:

IMP. CAES. HADRIANI. AVG. MET. LVT.

Hübner's expansion is as follows:

Imperatoris) Caes (aris) Hadriani Aug(usti) Met(allorum) Lut(udensium).

To the last word the learned German appends a query.

The third example bears, not the name of an emperor but that of a private owner, manufacturer, or merchant. It was found before the year 1783 upon Matlock Moor, probably within half a mile of the find of 1894, which I am about to describe, and under very similar circumstances. Then, as in 1894, the moor was being “ridded" or cleared for cultivation; and close to the spot where the lead lay was a "bole", or place marked by heaps of slag, and a hearth of flat stones, where in ancient times, before smelting mills were invented, lead ores were smelted. The pig was 20 ins. long by 4 ins. wide, and weighed 83 lbs. It was preserved by Adam Wolley, Esq., who gave it to the British Museum in 1797. The lettering reads thus:

L. ARVCONI. VERECVNDI. METAL . LVTVD.

The letters NDI and ET are ligulates. Hübner expands the inscription thus:

L. Aruconi Verecundi Metal(lorum) Lutud(ensium).

He again queries the last word, and remarks that the letters appear similar in size and form to those on an inscription bearing the name of Hadrian, and found in Shropshire. Another inscription bearing the letters LVT was found at Hexgrove Park, near Mansfield, in 1848; so that there were four examples of this contraction found in or near Derbyshire before the last discovery. It was on March 24th, 1894, that this discovery was made, and I visited the spot three days afterwards.

Messrs. R. D. Hurd and W. D. Hurd, father and

son, in 1886 purchased from the Duke of Portland a large tract of moorland, lying some 500 feet above the river Derwent, and adjoining the road leading from Matlock to Chesterfield. Between the eighth and ninth mile-stones from Chesterfield, on the east side of the road, Messrs. Hurd had built a farmhouse and outbuildings, and named them Portland Grange. Their business has been to reclaim and bring the land into cultivation.

On March 24th, a labourer was trenching to the depth of two feet, when his spade struck the corner of what proved to be a pig of lead. It lay face downwards, probably on the spot where it had been cast, and the inscription was thus perfectly preserved. The whole was beautifully oxydised under the influence of time. The pig is of the usual Roman shape, broader at the base than at the face. It measures along the base 221 ins. by 51 ins, along the face 193 ins. by 3 in. The sides slope outwards, and the depth is 43 ins.; the weight is 175 lbs. The pig has been cast in layers of about a in. in thickness, and it was one corner of the final layer that the spade of the labourer turned up. The moor is known as Tansley Moor, and among the names marked on the Ordnance Map thereabouts are "Slag Hills" and "Old Lead Works". In a little stream near by, I picked up in a few minutes several fragments of lead ore, and Mr. Hurd told me there was a good deal thereabout. About two hundred yards from the spot where the pig was found, runs an ancient trackway, locally called "The Roman Road", which can be traced north-westwards into Yorkshire, and south-east into Nottinghamshire. It was probably along this road that the pigs of lead were carried on pack-horses to the coast. There was a very considerable lead industry in Derbyshire in Roman times, as the remains that have been discovered indicate.

The labourer who found the lead communicated his discovery to his employers, and the heavy mass was carefully removed to Mr. Hurd's house, where I saw it on March 27th, and took an impression in stereotype. mould of the inscription.