ROMANO-BRITISH DERBYSHIRE 



it lies low enough to 

 be sheltered and ha- 

 bitable, and water and 

 cultivable ground are 

 close at hand. 1 



The site, though 

 popularly known as 

 the Castle Yard and 

 Castle Carrs, 2 received 

 no archaeological re- 

 cognition till an even 

 later date than 

 Brough. In 1771 it 

 was visited by the 

 Rev. John Watson, 

 a prominent local an- 

 tiquary, and its re- 

 mains then, as it 

 seems, comparatively 

 undisturbed were 

 at once correctly ex- 

 plained as those of a 

 Roman fort. But, as 

 at Brough, the dis- 

 covery was not pur- 

 sued. Later writers, 

 Bray, Pilkington, 

 Gough, Aikin, Ly- 

 sons, Glover and 

 others, contented 

 themselves substan- 

 tially with quoting Watson for over a hundred years. Meanwhile much 

 has perished ; masonry has been robbed for modern buildings ; the 

 ground has been ploughed and broken up deeper than the plough limit 

 by draining. Chance finds have been made, but scantily chronicled. 8 In 

 1899 a brief beginning of definite excavation was made by Mr. Garstang 

 and others,* but only occasional search has been made since, until quite 



1 The proximity of Mouselow camp has been cited by some writers as the reason for the establish- 

 ment of a Roman fort at Melandra. But I imagine it had little to do with the matter. No Romans, 

 nor anyone else for that matter, would tolerate the existence of a hostile fortress in the middle of their 

 own territory and merely plant a permanent fort close by to watch it. They would clear it out and have 

 done with it. Here, as so often, our English antiquaries have confused the strategy of a single campaign 

 with that of a permanent occupation. 



8 Watson citing old deeds, but without date or reference. 



8 The chief seem to be : 1 832, an inscribed fragment (p. 214) ; 1841,3 stone coffin (p. 213) ; 1863-4, 

 querns, coins, etc. found in draining and mostly not recorded; 1865 or 1875, traces of a gate with 

 keystone of arch found and foundations traced and removed by the farmer. Deri. Arch. Journ. xxi. 14. 

 Antiquary, Sept. 1882, p. 123. 



4 Garstang, Derb. Arch. Jaunt, xxiii. 90 ; Hamnett, ibid. 99. 



211 



FIG. 1 6. SITE OF MELANDRA FORT. 

 (The heights are in feet.) 



