"vr 
THE ROMAN STATIONS OF DERBYSHIRE. - 87 
above Stockport, is known, as Mr. Watson first remarked * by 
the name of “the Edrow,” now softened into Etherow by the 
same process of euphony by which JVéd(um) in Glamorganshire 
is styled Neath, and Caer Maridun(um), Caermarthen. This 
“ Edrow,” as the natives of the locality still term it, runs imme- 
diately under Melandra Castle, and the river seems to have 
derived its name from the Station, in the same way that the name 
of the Woe t was derived from the Station of Vawzo. 
Melandra Castle, now to be described, was first brought into 
notice as a Roman Station, by the Rev. John Watson, F.S.A., in 
a communication he made to the Society of Antiquaries, Dec. 10, 
1772. It is situated on a commanding site, at the junction of the 
Edrow with Dinting Brook (as usual with most Roman Stations 
on a /ingula,) and is a parallelogram of about 122 yards by 112, 
its angles facing the cardinal points. The ramparts are still very 
visible all round, being about 6 to 7 feet high, and about g feet in 
thickness, with considerable quantities of hewn stones remaining 
in them. In Watson’s time, the ditches on the S.E. and S.W. 
sides were fairly traceable, but during several visits to the spot 
during the last ten years, I have found them, though faint at first, 
growing still fainter. The two other sides, being protected by the 
streams, do not seem to have had a fosse. Watson also says, “‘on 
the north east side, between the station and the water, great 
numbers of worked stones lie promiscuously both above and under 
ground ; there is also a subterraneous stream of water here, and a 
large bank of earth which runs from the station to the river. It 
seems very plain that on this and on the north west sides have 
been many buildings, and these are the only places where they 
could safely stand, because of the declivity between them and the 
two rivers.” As far as the stones named as being above ground 
are concerned, they are now removed. The writer remembers 
seeing several small heaps of them which had been collected and 
were subsequently carried away.- All four of the gateways of the 
* < Archeologia,” vol. 3, p. 236. 
+ It is also called by the country people the Mooa and Nove. 
