You are aware the precise line of the Rykneld street (which on all hands is admitted to have been somewhere in this neighbourhood) has been a matter of dispute: and though as no vestige of the road itself remains, it may ever continue a matter of opinion; still a close attention to localities will enable us to come to something like proof that the line I will point out is the right one. On Gilthwaite common, about four miles north from Beighton, when it was enclosed a few years ago, a square enclosure was levelled, and considerable quantities of spurs, stirrups and battle-axes were found by the labourers; and a pavement was exposed, into which were inserted posts, with rings attached, as if for the fastening of horses. And close to this spot an urn of blue clay was discovered in 1826, which contained many hundreds of Roman coins, chiefly of the reign of Constantine. Following a line pointing through Eckington to Chesterfield, we come to the vestigia I showed you at Beighton, and which, coupled with the names of fields about there, as Stratfield, Battlefield, are strongly impressive that it is of Roman origin. From hence the road, I conceive, would traverse the site of the village of Beighton, and most likely that leading to Eckington is the same; but a little before reaching the latter village, it probably turned to the right, through what is yet called the Street-field, to the slope close under Mosbrough hall, where was a large square intrenchment, now very nearly obliterated by the plough, and crossed by the turnpike road to Sheffield. Its course would then be down the hill and across the rivulet; and a faint trace yet remains of its oblique ascent to a square intrenchment yet beautifully perfect, on the brow of the hill west of Eckington church. I am not aware of any more earth-works between here and Bolsover, but we have roads in the immediate vicinity clearly of Roman derivation, such as Ridgeway, Povey and Troway or Trovey; and that the Romans had at least a considerable station here, receives additional proof also, from the discovery of old hollows whence the coal had been drawn, and the number of large cinder-hills, whose origin is beyond the reach of tradition; and also from the discovery of a Terminus," and occasionally of coins, which though of a more migratory character, furnish collateral proof. I will mention also, that a tract of ground called the Hague common, not far from this village, was until its enclosure, some years ago, studded over with rude grave-stones, the origin of which nobody I have enquired of seems to know. I saw one, the last remaining unbroken, and it bore an inscription to the memory of John, Son of John and Mary- who died May-, 1642. Tradition says, a battle was fought there in the great rebellion, and I think it probable, and that these tombs covered the remains of some who fell in it. Wishing you every success, I have paid considerable attention to the Roman road in the parish of Wingerworth, as I have travelled about; and, as I believe, I have it in my power to point out its course between Derby and Chesterfield as accurately, if not more so, than most other persons, I will not merely confine myself to this parish, but trace its course the whole of the line between those towns. After crossing the Derwent above St. Mary's bridge it goes to Little Chester, leaving that place a little to the northwest; it then bears more eastwardly for a short distance until it comes into the open fields; it then turns to the north, passing by Breadsall priory and over Morley moor, where it is quite visible, until it abuts against the fence of the old enclosure, one hundred yards east of Brackley gate; from thence it goes in a straight line for the lodge house in Horsley park, and crosses the road one hundred yards west of Horsley-Woodhouse; it may then be seen running down the field on the west side of the lane that goes down to Bottle-brook; it then keeps the lane, or nearly so, as far as Smithy houses; it is then quite visible for a mile or more along Street-lane, until you come to a water, where there is a turn in the lane towards the east, but the Roman road continues straight forward up the fields, and crosses the road from Heage to Ripley; from thence it goes to Hartshay manor-house, crosses the tail of Hartshay dam, and goes up the fields, and crosses the lanes from Pentrich mill and from the wire-mill to the town of Pentrich, in a direct line for Coneygree house; from thence it runs down to the small brook, where it meets with the old Derby and Chesterfield road; it then keeps for a short distance up the said road to near Mr. Strelley's house at Oakerthorpe, where it gets into the field west of the road; it then runs down the fields on the back of the houses, crosses the brook, and goes to the bowling-green at the Peacock inn; it then keeps a little to the west of the road until you come to the Alfreton and Wessington road; it there crosses the Chesterfield road, and gets into the field on the east side: getting down the hill, almost to the brook, it joins the road again, and keeps along it (or nearly so) past Miss Hopkinson's, until you begin to rise the hill where the present road bears off to the east; but the Roman road goes straight along under the side of the hill to Higham town end; it then seems to keep the line of the present road through Stretton as far as Clay-cross; it then leaves the road on the west and goes to Egstow hall, and across the fields to the quaker's burying ground at Tupton; it then goes through the fields and crosses the Mansfield and Bakewell road at a farm house in the occupetion of William Hodgkinson; after passing through the orchard there, it keeps the line of the hedge, at one field distance (still on the east side of the road) for several fields in succession, crosses the avenue in front of Win • Vil agna festis cæsa Terminalibus, &c. Hor. Epod. Od. 2. At the feasts or wakes of the god Terminus, the ancients sacrificed to the god Termini as the preserver of the boundaries of each man's possessions. gerworth hall, and still keeping a little east of the turnpike road until it joins it, half a mile before you come at Ches terfield town end. This morning I walked across the fields, the whole line or supposed line of the Roman road, from Clay-cross to Chesterfield. For the first half mile, until I came at an occupation lane, half a mile before I got to Egstow hall, I found little, if any remains of the road, the ground having been much cultivated and broken by getting coals and ironstone in this part. Having entered the said lane, it was quite visible for two miles, by Egstow hall and Tupton, as before described, until I got to the lane leading from Wingerworth to the mill, called mill-lane; after this I cannot say that I decidedly found any more traces of it.—I had several opportunities of seeing how the road was made, at places where the farmers had cut ditches across it, and it seems to be formed merely of such rubble-stone and sharp gravel as was nearest at hand. I am, Sir, Yours respectfully, JOHN GRATTON. To Mr. Stephen Glover, Derby. "The second Roman road in this county, which has been examined both by Mr. Pegge and John Whitaker (the historian of Manchester) runs through the north part of it, under the name of the Bathom-gate; it has been traced clearly from Brough to Buxton. On leaving the station of Brough in Hope parish, the Roman road is discoverable bearing south-west, as soon as it passes the second waterflash called the Burghwash, and fragments of its broad ridge may be seen in the lane. It then enters Bull meadow, running up the hedge on the left, but soon appears again in the lane leading to Smaldale, where the right-hand hedge stands upon it. It then runs into the enclosures called the Doctor's pasture and Bagshaw pasture, and after crossing Gray ditch, bends north-west to ascend the hill, being found by the spade and plough, in a line well known to the farmers, till it comes upon the moor three quarters of a mile on the Brough side of Bathom-edge, where the crest is quite plain to the stone fence which separates Bradwell and Tideswell moors; retaining here its original breadth of eighteen or twenty feet, and sweeping,' as Whitaker describes it in his flowery language, 'in a long strait streak of vivid green over the purple surface of the heath.' It is also visible on the Buxton side of this hedge for about a mile, bearing southwest for the enclosures at the dam in the forest, and crosses the turnpike road from Manchester to Chesterfield, then after just entering Hernstone lane, it is visible in the field on the left, where, in a dry summer, the grass is of a different colour; from hence it runs in a straight green lane towards Fairfield, being seen again on Fairfield moor, and is found by digging to have kept the same line to the hill above Buxton. "The late Mr. King, who was better acquainted with our ancient castles than with our roads, was inclined to think that this road was only a communication between the bath at Buxton and the castle of his unknown chief upon Mam Tor. That it might have been in use for such a purpose is probable enough, but the road itself is a common Roman one, bearing every distinguishing mark of being constructed by that people; and joining two of their most decided stations, Buxton and Brough, without appearing to be any way connected with Mam Tor. Though it passes accidentally near it. At Buxton, as Mr. Watson contends, a third road from the Roman station at Manchester, fell into that we have just followed from Brough. This Manchester road coming from Stockport and Saltersford hall in Cheshire, where it is known by the name of the Old-gate, runs, according to his idea, by Pym-chair to the head of the river Goyte: here it is joined, as Whitaker also allows, by a Roman way from Chester, and proceeds on the west of the present turnpike road to Cracking-stones, and thence to the station at Buxton. Mr. Leman, however (whose authority is of great weight) is rather inclined to suppose it continued more on the line of the modern road. The existence of the road itself is unquestionable. "A fourth Roman way may be traced, as I before observed, on the south side of Buxton, in the direction of Little Chester. The Roman road leaves Buxton in the tract of the present Ashbourn road, passes through Over-street, and near the 27th milestone, where, as the turnpike road bears off to the west, it keeps its own straight line, and is visible on the left hand of it, from Hurdlow house to Pike hall; being still called among the peasants by its proper name, the Roman road. It leaves Aldwark to the left, is visible on Brassington moor, passes close by Hop ton, where the late Mr. Gell opened a part of it, and probably between Kedleston park and Duffield to Darley-slade,* where it joins the great road from Ad Trivonam, and crosses the river with it to Little Chester. It takes no notice of the camp at Parwich, though it has every appearance of being Roman, but leaves it about two miles to the right. "Another considerable Roman road also meets this last on the banks of the Derwent, bearing directly east from Staffordshire, most probable from Chesterton near Newcastle, in that county (the Mediolanum of Antonine's and Richard's tenth iters.) It seems to have crossed the Dove a very little below Rocester, which, from its name and situation, was probably a station on it; and leaving Marston-Montgomery a little on the right, and Longford and Langley on the left, crosses the Ashbourn road to Derby, at right angles between the second and third mile-stones, in a direct line for the gates of Little Chester. It is known through the country by the name of the Longlane, and its whole appearance is such as demonstrates to an antiquary, a Roman, or perhaps a British origin. After entering Little Chester, it issues from the present main street of the village, by what was probably the east gate of the station, and proceeds in its old line, leaving Chaddesden close on the right, through Stanton, into Nottinghamshire. "Mr. Watson, in his very clear and excellent account of the station of Melandra Castle, in Archæologia, Vol. III. page 237, observes, that from the south-east gate of that fort, a Roman road went over the moors to Brough, the line of which, for a great part, is still followed, the old pavement in many places remaining, with drains cut through it when it crosses any marshy ground. It seems to have passed Glossop on the left, running between Cross-Cliff and Whitfield, leaving the great hill of Kinder-Scout to the south-west, and that of Crookston-close on the north-east, and bearing in a straight line through Aston, to the north-west entrance of the Roman station at Brough. It is curious enough, that in all this part of its course, it goes by the name of the Doctor's gate, that on the other side of Brough it enters a field called the Doctor's pasture: and that a road on the west side of Melandra falls into the great Roman way between Manchester and York, at a place which is termed the Doctor's-lane-head. The circumstance evidently points out a connexion between the three roads, which were indeed all certainly Koman. "There are some traces of a road, said to be high raised, near Edinghall, on the south-west borders of Derbyshire, pointing to Lullington, and supposed to communicate with a more decided one near Tamworth and Drayton-Basset in Staffordshire. This last is a part of the Salters'way from Droitwich into Lincolnshire; and the Edinghall road, if connected with it, would have a claim to be considered as British. It passes, however, through a very small space of this county, and will be traced more particularly in another part of the work. "Nor have we much better information of what Nichols, in his History of Leicestershire, calls a bridle road from Derby to Coventry, and which he says is still frequented by the drovers as the best and shortest way between these towns. His informer (who gives a very confused account of it) says, it comes from Stanton, coincides in part of its course with the Salter's-way (which is next to impossible, as the bearings of the two are so different) and turning south, passes through Sibston, Atterton and Fen-Drayton, into the Watling street, about a mile and a half south-east of Mancester. From this statement, however, it is highly probable that there has been a Roman way in this direction, between Little Chester and the stations on the Watling street, which, turning south-south-west after passing the bridge at Derventio, might leave Derby, Osmaston and Swarkstone on the left, cross the Trent from the latter village about Stanton, and running near Staunton-Harold, Ticknall, Smithsby and Ashby-de-la-Zouch, proceed by Swebston and Congeston, crossing the Salter's-way near the latter, and keeping its own line (and not turning as has been supposed) straight through Sibston, Atterton and Drayton, to the Watling street, near Mancester; especially as on the other side of this street, a way, undoubtedly Roman, proceeded in the very same bearing towards Mancester and Chesterton on the Fosse. "Marks of a third of these uncertain roads are supposed to have been seen on the east side of Now called Penny-Long-Lane, probably from the Latin word pene, near; and the word slade may be supposed to be from stadium, or the first station from Little Chester. k k the Derwent, between Little Chester and Sawley ferry, bearing thence to the station at Leicester, or Willoughby on the Fosse; nor indeed is it likely that so important a place as Little Chester should have been without some communication of this sort on the side of Ratæ. In fact, this would be the continuance of the Roman road from Buxton in its original bearing." Having thus collected as much as is at present known of the Roman roads in this county, we come in course to consider the towns or stations on them. At LITTLE CHESTER, the Roman Derventio, which stands on the east bank of the Derwent, about half a mile from Derby, there was a Roman town. Few vestiges of the ancient station are now to be seen; though Dr. Stukeley, who endeavoured to ascertain its form and extent in the year 1721, observes, that he "traced the tract of the wall all round, and in some places saw underground the foundations of it in the pastures, and some vaults along the sides." The station, he continues," was of a square form, and the castrum five hundred feet by six hundred. Within the walls are foundations of houses; and in the fields round the castle may be seen tracts of streets laid with gravel." These observations of the Doctor's are considered as having been just and accurate; though, from the alterations made since the above time, no tracts of streets are now to be discovered in the pastures; and the only ways laid with gravel, is one, which running east and west, nearly intersects the station into two equal parts; and a second, which extends from the north-east corner in a direct line across the pastures towards Breadsall.* The foundations of an ancient bridge, leading from Little Chester across the Derwent, may still, it is said, be seen when the water is clear.+ Another circumstance, proving the remote origin of the station, is the variety of Roman coins that have at many different times been discovered here. They consist both of silver and copper; the latter so corroded and defaced, that the legends are mostly unintelligible; but the former in better preservation, and exhibiting, among others, the names of the following emperors: Tetricus, Galianus, Pictorinus, Posthumus, Vespatianus, Antonius Pius, Hadrianus, Marcus, Aurelius Antoninus, Crispina, Gordianus, Antoninus Augustus, Trajanus, and Carausius. The Roman coins found at Little Chester are generally very much decayed, owing to their being found in the soil and turned up accidentally by the spade; still there is no doubt but a very extensive collection might have been formed, had care been taken of them. The following list is a few found at Little Chester. SEVERVS AVG. PERT. MAX. rev. FVNDATOR PACIS. A female figure standing stolated, and veiled, holding a dead branch in her right hand (arg. 544 grains) AD 208. L. SEPT. SEV. AVG. (the rest imperfect) rev. VICT. PARTHICA. Figure, Victory standing holding in her right hand a laurel, and in her left military trophies; at her feet a captive (arg. 37 grains.) + IMP. SEV. ALEXAND. AVG. rev. PM. TR. P. XII. COS. III. P. P. Figure, Mars gradiens, over his shoulder a mantle, the right hand extended, in the left a whip, the lash nowed (base silver, 49 grs.) AD. 222.‡ + MAXIMINVS PIVS AVG. GERM. rev. FIDES MILITVM. Fig. standing holding in each hand a signum militare (arg. 434 grains) AD 235-6. IMP. PHILIPPVS AVG. rev. SAECVLARES AVG. G. in the centre a column, on which is COS III. (arg. 56 grains) A.D. 244-9. IMP. PHILIPPVS AVG. rev. SAECVLARES AVGG. Figure, an antelope (arg. 48 grains.) IMP. M. IVL. PHILIPPVS AVG. rev. PM. TR. P. III. COS....P. P. Figure, a female standing stolated, in the right hand a spear, ending in a caduceus, in her left a cornucopia (arg. 46 grs.) FL. MAX. THEODORA AVG. rev. PIETAS ROMANA. Figure, a female standing nursing a child in her left arm and holding her right hand on her breast, to the left of the figure is a cross patee; in the exergue T. R. P. (small brass) 292. Pilkington's View of Derbyshire, Vol. II. page 199. + When Darley Grove was broken up, about eleven or twelve years ago, skeletons, coins, and various Roman relics were discovered. Those marked thus+ are in the possession of Mr. Lomas, the rest of Mr. Swanwick. IMP. CARAVSIVS P. P. AVG. rev. MONETA. Figure standing holding a balance in her right hand and a cornucopia in her left. 3d. B. AD 293, 300. IMP. CARAVSSIVS P. P. AVG. rev. PAX. AVG. Figure standing, holding in the right hand a branch, in the left a hasta, entwined with a serpent. 3 B. Another the same, excepting that the figure holds a cornucopia instead of a hasta. 3 B. IMP. CONSTANTINVS MAX. AVG. rev. VICTORIAE. LARTAE PRINC. PERP. An altar charged with a star, over which two figures of Victory are holding a shield, inscribed VOT. PR. in the exergue STR. IMP. CONSTANTINVS AVG. rev. SOLI INVICTO COMITI. Figure, Mars. IVL. CRISPVS NOB. CAES. rev. BEATA TRANQUILLITAS. A votive altar, inscribed VOTIS XX. on the top of which is the globe of the earth, and above it three stars: exergue PTR. AD 318-326. FL. IVL. CRISPVS NOB. CAES. rev. CAESARVM NOSTRORVM. Within a garland, VOT. X. and exergue P SIS. CONSTANTINVS IVN. NOB. C. rev. GLORIA EXERCITVS. Two signa militaria between two soldiers, each holding a scutum and pilum: in the exergue TRS AD 340. Ditto, the letters in the exergue being TRP. + Ditto the letters in the exergue being SHANG. DN. FL. CL. CONSTANTINVS NOB. C. rev. PROVIDENTIAE CAESS. In the centre a castle or wall with a gateway, and at the top three balls; exergue SMHE. AD 340. CONSTANS P. P. AVG. rev. GLORIA EXERCITAS. On a signum militare, the letter M between two warriors, each holding a scutum and pilum. AD 340. CONSTANS P. P. AVG. rev. VICTORIAE D. D. AVGG. Q. N. N. A star between two figures of Victory, each holding a laurel, in the exergue TR. P. Ditto, a heart instead of the star, and the exergue TRS. FL. IVL. CONSTANTIVS NOB. C. rev. GLORIA EXERCITVS. Two signa militaria between two soldiers, each holding a scutum and pilum. The letters in the exergue not legible. AD 340. Ditto, the letters in the exergue being SLC. Ditto, with only one signum militare, charged with a patera, and the letters in the exergue CONST. CONSTANTIVS AVG. rev. GLORIA EXERCITAS. One signum militare, charged with between two soldiers as before. P CONSTANTINOPOLIS rev. Victory standing on the prow of a ship, holding in her right hand a spear, and resting her left on a shield: exergue TRP. VRBS ROMA rev. Lupa suckling Romulus and Remus; above two stars; exergue PLC. Ditto, the letters TRS. with a star. Ditto, with three stars above, and exergue S. CONST. Ditto, a laurel between two stars above; exergue TRS. FL. MAGNENTIVS P. F. AVG. rev. VICTORIAE D. D. N. N. AVG. ET CAE. Two figures of Victory supporting a shield, charged with VOT. V. MVLT. X. above it a symbol. AD 353. Ditto, without the symbol, there are letters in the exergue, but not legible. DN. MAGNENTIVS. P. F. AVG. rev. GLORIA ROMANORVM. A soldier on horseback, in his right hand a pilum, in his left a scutum, riding over military spoil to strike an enemy, who is thrown on his back and supplicating mercy, in the exergue AMB.-N. B. Behind the head of the three last is the letter A. |