County Council Brings Important Archives Back to Derbyshire
15 January 2008
Expert archivists working for Derbyshire County Council have succeeded in bringing ancient lead trading documents back to the county following a decision to ban their export.
Culture minister Margaret Hodge placed a temporary export bar on the 17th century lead trading ledger after the county council objected to its sale abroad.
But she made her ban permanent this week which means the important documents will now come to the Derbyshire Record Office in Matlock where they will be available for researchers and local historians.
Learning of the authority’s success in keeping the Derbyshire lead merchant’s trade accounts in the country – and bringing them back to Derbyshire - Derbyshire County Council’s cabinet member for cultural services, Councillor Bob Janes, said: “This is brilliant news as the document is of great interest to a lot of people, not only specialist researchers and historians but to anyone with an interest in Derbyshire’s history as a whole.
“It sheds light on an important time in Derbyshire’s history when the rapid expansion of the lead industry affected social and political as well as economic developments.
“It would have been a shame to see the document leave the country and I’m delighted the Minister was persuaded to make the temporary ban permanent.
“We will give the accounts a good home in our record office and we will ensure they are preserved for the future and fully available to everyone.”
Back in June, the 400-page ledger was sold at Bonham’s auctioneers in London to Yale University Library in the USA. Derbyshire County Council also bid for it, coming second in the bidding.
Following the sale, we objected to it going abroad on the grounds of its outstanding local and national significance.
After hearing from an expert advisor, a reviewing committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest advised the minister to defer the export licence. Derbyshire County Council than had until Monday, January 14 to secure the £3,800 needed to buy it.
The ledger, dating back to 1668-1700, was kept by a local lead trader and records transactions over a 30-year period.
It mentions a number of places in Derbyshire central to the lead trade, such as Cromford, and gives names of local families, particularly around Wirksworth, involved in lead mining and smelting from the mid 16th century. Among these were the Gells of Hopton, the Wigleys of Middleton-by-Wirksworth and the Fearns/Ferrnes of Wirksworth.
The trade accounts are thought to be the earliest surviving extensive record of the lead trade in Derbyshire during a time when it played an important role in the country’s development as the first industrialised nation.
At this time, more then half the nationwide production of lead, used for everything from domestic utensils to lead shot, was mined in the Peak District.
(AJ.12.08)
PIC CAPTION
COMING HOME: Derbyshire County Councillor Bob Janes, centre, and county archivist Dr Margaret O’Sullivan with the 17th century lead trading accounts secured for Derbyshire. They are pictured with churchwarden Peter Smith in front of the famous T’owd Man of Bonsall – an early medieval carving of a Derbyshire lead miner now in St Mary’s Church, Wirksworth.
