THE ANCIENT ROADS AND THE SITE 7 



which its course has been obliterated by slips. In the 

 south-west gateway a road, now represented by a ridge in 

 the first and third fields to the south, curved round to the 

 east opposite Lower Gamesley Farm. From the small size 

 of the gateway it may be inferred that this was an 

 approach of little importance. It must, however, be 

 observed that the small gateway may stand in relation to 

 the fact that this was the weakest side of the fortress. On 

 the other three sides it was amply protected by the lie of 

 the ground. On the north-west it was not only protected 

 by the steepness of the scarp but by the morass (now 

 represented by alluvium) at its base, traversed by the 

 Etherow ; on the north-east by the scarp overlooking the 

 marshy valley of the Glossop brook ; and on the south-east 

 by a ravine which formed a tete-du-pont, covering the 

 access to the gate at a distance of about 60 yards. Neither 

 here nor on the opposite side are there traces of roads. 



The walls of Melandra are made from the sandstones of 

 the Millstone Grit in the neighbourhood. They, as well 

 as the discoveries which have been made inside, will be 

 described by the members of the Classical Association who 

 carried on the work. I will content myself with calling 

 attention to evidence which seems to me to point to the 

 fact that the site was occupied in Prehistoric times. 



A considerable number of flint splinters, knocked off in 

 the manufacture of implements, have been discovered, 

 which show that the site was occupied, like many others 

 near Rochdale and elsewhere in the Pennine Chain, in 

 the Neolithic, or, as is more probable, in the Bronze 

 Age. The evidence that it was occupied in the age of 

 Prehistoric Iron is afforded by portions of seven querns, 

 of bee-hive shape, which characterise that age, four 

 (fig. 1, A.B.C.D.) being upper, and three (E.F.G.) the 

 lower stones. They are all made of millstone grit. 



