BURTON, ANCIENT AND MODERN. 29 
the channel, and the formation of peat wholly ceased.” 
I must leave others more competent than myself to 
comment on the interesting geological questions involved in 
the passage I have quoted. The point that concerns us at 
present is the strong evidence it furnishes that the Via 
Devana crossed the river at Branstone. It seems to me 
quite sufficient to encourage practical antiquaries to search 
for further evidence along the same line. And then I can- 
not help thinking that it is, to say the least of it, exceed- 
ingly improbable that if there was a Roman highway there, 
there would be another within two miles of it. Thus then 
I think we may fairly conclude that neither east and west, 
nor north and south, did any road pass through the site 
of Burton in Roman times. And this appears to me 
equivalent to saying that Burton did not exist as anything 
like a town in those days. 
The question may occur to you, why, if this well defined 
highway existed through Stanton and Drakelowe and across 
the river by ford to Branstone, onwards to Tatenhill, was 
not the river bridged here in after years? I do not see 
that a bridge would have been more difficult to make here 
than lower down the river where the old bridge was made. 
But I think the same process must have taken place in this 
case, as I have already described as happening with the 
road north and south. For some reason, probably through 
the foundation of the Abbey, Burton had become an im- 
portant place, and travellers would come a little out of 
their way to call there for a rest on their journey between 
Ashby and Uttoxeter. The road from Stanton through 
Stapenhill would be frequented, and the old road through 
Drakelow and Branstone neglected, and thus it would come 
to pass that in choosing a place for the bridge the site 
lower down the river would be considered the more advan- 
tageous. I am perfectly willing to admit that a great deal 
of what I have said is mere guesswork, and that, after all, 
