^be ancient IRoabs conncctcb witb 

 flDelanbra anb tbe Site* 



In the following imperfect sketcli I propose to deal with 

 Melandra from the point of view offered by the study of 

 the Roman and pre-Roman roads in the district. Melandra 

 was obviously placed where it is to command the western 

 portion of one of the cross ways linking the great Roman 

 roads on the west with those of the east of the Pennine 

 Chain. ^ It dominated the western, just as the answering 

 fort of Brough commanded the eastern portion of the same 

 road near Hope at its junction with the road from Buxton 

 through Bamford to Sheffield. Some ten miles to the 

 north of Melandra the fort of Castleshaw kept watch and 

 ward over a similar crossway, passing over the Pennine 

 moors to the north-east, by way of Slack to join at Castle- 

 ford the Roman road from the south to York. Before, 

 however, we can discuss these roads it is necessary to dis- 

 tinguish clearly the roads used by the inhabitants long 

 before the Romans set foot in Britain, from those which 

 were made by the Roman engineers. 



The earliest roads in Britain, with which I am ac- 

 quainted, go back into the Prehistoric period as far as the 

 Bronze Age. They undoubtedly had their origin in foot- 

 paths, some of Neolithic age, taking the easiest course 

 between one village and another, or one stronghold and 

 another. They are dated — as for example, on the moors 

 and wolds of north eastern Yorkshire — by the burial 



1 . For details of these roads see Codrington "Roman Roads in Britain," 

 1903. 



