New research traces the origins and human impact of lead mining in the Peak District

The Peak District National Park Authority has been delighted to support this important piece of research that has produced the first definitive evidence of when post-Roman lead production began in the Peak District Orefield, one of the largest lead producing areas in Europe.

Whilst it was known that lead was mined and processed in the Peak District during the early medieval period (and earlier), the extent of later workings and reprocessing of earlier sites means that it is a challenge to firmly identify and securely date mine workings and processing sites to this early period.

The research team, led by the University of Nottingham in collaboration with the British Geological Survey, the University of Sheffield, York Archaeology and Castleton Historical Society, has provided the first absolute evidence that post-Roman lead production in the Peak District was established by the middle of the 7th century AD, and shows that by the mid-8th century, large-scale production had contaminated the wider environment around mining centres such as Castleton. It also demonstrates lead exposure remained high throughout the medieval period, reaching its greatest levels during the late 12th and early 13th centuries.

The results suggest that exposure was not experienced equally across society; that higher status individuals had less exposure and highlights the potential vulnerability of women within these communities to lead exposure and the health implications that came with this.

Archaeologists study the wide variety of physical remains that people in the past left behind. The results of this project are all the more remarkable because they come from the physical remains of the people of the Peak District themselves, the people who called the Peak District home over hundreds and even thousands of years.

The Peak District is a landscape of layers, with each period of history and each generation leaving their mark. So, today the landscape tells a story about its development and about the lives of ancestors who made this landscape their home. This makes the landscape more than the sum of its parts; more than the individual sites that it comprises. Similarly, this research focuses not on an individual archaeological site but draws together archaeological evidence from a number of sites across the region and the Peak District Orefield, and marries it with previous studies and historic research. This demonstrates the importance of holistic and multi-disciplinary research that reaches across our landscape in furthering our understanding and telling the story of our ancestors.

Senior Conservation Archaeologist, Natalie Ward, said: "This multidisciplinary study gives us exceptional insight into the lives of our medieval ancestors and the harsh realities of their relationship with their environment.

"Many people visit the Peak District today for its beautiful countryside but this research speaks to a long period in the past when this was a landscape of extraction and industry that had significant implications for the health of local populations in past, but also impact well beyond our borders.

"The results are very timely as the National Park Authority is developing a Historic Environment Research Framework for the Peak District. Funded by Historic England, it will help to inform the management of the Peak District landscape and to focus future research efforts. This project will make a significant contribution to the medieval section of the Research Framework. It demonstrates the importance of partnership working in delivering world class research to help understand our shared heritage. It also highlights the vitally important role that both archaeological archives and local community research have to play in understanding the development of our landscape, unlocking its research potential and ultimately bringing the stories of the Peak District landscape and its past people to life."

For more information visit the University of Nottingham website.

You can view the article published in Antiquity.