ROMANO-BRITISH 

 DERBYSHIRE 



i. Sketch of Roman Britain. 2. Sketch of Roman Derbyshire. 3. Brough. 4. Me- 

 landra. 5. Little Chester. 6. Buxton. 7. Roman lead-mining in Derbyshire. 

 8. Inhabited Caves. 9. Roads. 10. Special items and alphabetical index. 



i. SKETCH OF ROMAN BRITAIN 



A'ONG the physical features which have seriously affected the 

 internal history of our island, not the least notable is the 

 division of the country into upland and lowland. Geographers 

 and historians have not always adequately recognized this 

 feature, and indeed its influence upon the fortunes of Britain has varied 

 much at various periods. But it has never been wholly insignificant, and 

 sometimes, as in the Roman age, it has proved all important. 



In the part of Britain which fell within the Roman Empire, that is, 

 in the part lying south of the Forth and the Clyde, the uplands and lowlands 

 form two more or less equal districts. The English midlands, the south, 

 and the east coast constitute the lowland district. The moors of the west 

 country, the hills of Wales, the Pennine Chain, and the larger part of the 

 north belong to the uplands. The dividing line between the two 

 districts may be drawn from York by Derby to Chester and from Chester 

 by Shrewsbury to the Bristol Channel. This line provides only a rough 

 boundary. Hills lie to the south of it in the lowland region and 

 lowlands may be found to the west or north of it in the domain of the 

 uplands. But, with a few obvious exceptions, it actually divides two 

 different kinds of country. 



The lowland region is not, in general, level and unbroken plain. 

 Much of it, indeed, is covered with hills. But the hills are small ; they 

 seldom rise above 600 feet and their slopes are gentle and easy. The 

 vegetation is lowland in character. The soil and climate, if not always 

 favourable, is always tolerant of serious agriculture and settled habitation, 

 and towns, villages, country houses and farms have at all times abounded. 

 This lowland district has one further characteristic : it looks east 

 and south, towards the Continent. In this direction its rivers flow and 

 its hills slope gentliest down. Its easiest dealings are with the coasts of the 

 opposite mainland, and it affords ready access up its river valleys to visitors 

 from those coasts. On the other hand the uplands present a very different 

 picture. Usually they rise above the 6oo-foot contour-line, and often they 

 attain considerable heights. Their geological formations admit of deep 



191 



