You should be standing near the Sheep Wash Car Park, looking out over the reservoir.
In the 1980s the area in front of you was excavated. It was the last chance to investigate the land prior to the flooding of the valley and the creation of the reservoir. Archaeologists discovered the remains of Roman buildings constructed between 100-200CE and occupied for about 250 years. The buildings included a farmstead and, a little further away, a settlement comprising a group of buildings covering around 2 hectares.
The Romans weren’t just farming this landscape – they were attracted by Derbyshire’s mineral wealth. They hoped to find both silver and lead. Lead was plentiful, and essential for Roman engineering and building works. However, the lead ore was poor in silver.
The Romans employed local people to mine the ore. It is likely that a small villa and farms at Carsington were built with profits from selling lead.
Many Roman lead ingots (known as ‘pigs’) that have been found in Derbyshire bear the name ‘Lutadarum’, thought to be their place of origin. It’s not known where Lutadarum was exactly, but it’s likely to have been somewhere close to Carsington.