3-078-063 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

A Roman pig of lead discovered at South Cave, East Yorkshire, 1890. Illustration from a photograph '...communicated to us by Mr. W. Richardson. In January last a man ploughing in a field called Rowdales...on the old Roman road leading to Brough, the Roman station..., came upon a pig of lead...weighing 9st. 9 lb., which bears the following inscription in raised letters :C - IVL - PROTI - BRIT - LVT - EX - ARG...An account of it having been submitted to Mr. Haverfield, a well-known authority on Roman inscriptions in England, he replied that it was no doubt a relic of the Roman lead trade. About seventy inscribed pigs of lead have been found in various parts of the Roman Empire...The title may be expanded: Caii Iulii Proti Britanicum Lutudense ex argento - that is (the lead of), C. Julius Protus, British (lead) from Lutudae, prepared from silver. C. Julius Protus was the capitalist who worked the mines, and the mine itself was at Lutudae, a place which was probably in South Derbyshire. The lead is said to have been prepared from silver, because the silver was always extracted, and the more valuable metal gave the name. The block...is now in the possession of Mr. C. E. G. Barnard of South Cave Castle, who intends sending it to the British Museum'. From "Illustrated London News", 1890.