BURTON, ANCIENT AND MODERN, 21 
the east bank of the Trent may have been cultivated, but 
on the west or Staffordshire side Needwood Forest extended 
close to the river, so traffic between the sides of the 
*sundering flood” would be very limited, and travellers to 
or from greater distances would naturally divert their road 
a few miles further south, where the rivers are smaller and 
would present less formidable obstacles. 
Nor does even tradition—that very seductive but rather 
untrustworthy assistant to the antiquarian explorer—point 
to a busy centre having existed hereabouts in very early 
times. There is of course the tradition of Saint Modwen, 
but this, as far as I know, only amounts to the statement 
that she had a cell or chapel on an island in the river. Our 
friend, Mr. Rye, will perhaps tell us more about this at our 
next meeting, and I will not attempt to pursue that part 
of the question further.* Far more convincing to my mind 
of the fact I am trying to establish is what I may call the 
negative evidence. 
If there had been anything like what we call a town— 
any collection of permanent inhabitants during the Roman 
occupation, there must have been a road to it. We know 
there was such a road running northwards, from Etocetum, 
two or three miles south of Lichfield, to Derby. We are 
still very familiar with the portions of this road from the 
neighbourhood of Lichfield to Branstone, and from the 
corner of Princess Street, along Derby Street, Derby Road, 
across Monk’s Bridge, to Derby itself. But between 
Branstone and the corner of Princess Street nearly all 
traces of that road have disappeared. Fifty years ago the 
same might have been said of the part between Princess 
*Mr. Rye’s paper on S. Modwen will be found published in this Volume. 
I may say that much as I have learned from it, it does not appear 
greatly to affect my arguments. There can be little doubt that in her 
time there was a considerable settlement at Stapenhill, but I still think 
there is no evidence of any population on the Burton side of the river. 
R.M. 
