Short title: Attorney General of the Duchy of Lancaster v Berisford. Plaintiffs:...

Short title: Attorney General of the Duchy of Lancaster v Berisford.

Plaintiffs: Attorney General of the Duchy of Lancaster [at the relation of Robert Mower, Ashley, Bacon, Valence, Ball and Gregory].

Defendants: John Beresford, Willmott and others.

Documents: depositions concerning Newton Grange, Wirksworth, Derbyshire.

Taken in 1686.

Deponents for plaintiffs: Edward Kirke of Biggin, labourer, aged 73; Robert Ball of Biggin, miner, aged 68; William Doe of Yeldersley, husbandman, aged 60 years and more; William Blackwall of Brassington, gentleman, aged 70, deposed that in the 1650s Anthony Wagstaffe manipulated the miners, 'they being poore men', into an agreement to give him 1/20th dish so as to avoid the tithe and recompense him for trespass on the way to and from their mines. [Dish measure of lead ore based on a standard brass dish, usually oblong in shape]. He had threatened to take action against them 'if they went but a step out of the way'; George Travis of Tissington, husbandman, aged 78; John Steeple of Elton, husbandman, aged 79; John Taylpr of Brassington, gentleman, aged 38; John Baker of Tissington, husbandman, aged 70 years and more; Anthony Alsop of Alsop-en-le-Dale, esquire, aged 68; Sam Jackson of Alstonfield, Staffordshire, miner, aged 50; Henry Travis of Shirland Park, gentleman, aged 56, [recalls a conversation with John Derbyshire at Ashbourne fair where Derbyshire told him that he had signed his mines at Newton Grange over to Berisford, revoking his and his family's rights to work there without permission]; John Wagstaffe of Alsop, inkeeper, aged 52; Richard Sanders of Parwich, husbandman, aged 60; John Hambleton of Ballidon, husbandman, aged 50; John Sutton of Biggin, miner, aged 72; John Higton of Biggin, orebuyer, aged 60; Joseph Sherwin of Ashbourne, pewterer, aged 40; Luke Baron of Parwich, miner, aged 30; Humphrey Johnson of Tissington, husbandman, aged 57; William Clarke of Milne Dale, Staffordshire, miner, aged 50; Richard Sladen of Wirksworth, miner, aged 62, deposed that all miners in the Wirksworth wapentake pay not only lot and cope but also some negotiable compensation to the landowner for any trespasses committed. [Lot a mineral duty paid by the miner to the lord of the liberty to search for and mine ore. Cope duty paid by the buyer of the ore to the lord of the liberty]; William Chadwick of Hope, Staffordshire, miner, aged 71; Matthew Berisford of Gateham in Alstonfield parish, miner, aged 76, deposed that the groves at Newton Grange were old works. He believes that the same groves might have been 'wrought above a hundred yeares before'; Richard Botham of Newton Grange, husbandman, aged 42; Jane Saunders of Parwich, widow, aged 87, she deposed that she was married at 21 and moved to Parwich. 2 weeks after her marriage her husband became a miner. She 'hath often wrought att the said Mine and hath fetcht water to the same, and wascht lead oare and done other things there as shee could' [has often wrought at the said mine and has fetched water to the same and washed lead ore and done other things there as she could]; John Yates of Parwich, miner, aged 69; John Chambers of Hope in parish of Alstonfield, Staffordshire, miner, aged 72, deposed that about 50 years ago [1636] his father was falsely imprisoned in his own home in Newton Grange for 2 or 3 days by Anthony Wagstaffe for working his groves; George Bicconshore of Ashbourne, felt monger, aged 67; John Baker of Parwich, laborer, aged 52; Dorothy Day of Winster, widow, aged 80 years and more.