ROMANO-BRITISH DERBYSHIRE 



arched passages, some voussoirs of which were found lying near (fig. 18). 

 The excavators thought that the two archways were unequal in size one 

 being large for wheeled traffic and one small for foot passengers. The 

 western gate was found in 1905 to be exactly similar, even in the in- 

 equality of the two entrances. The south gate, on the other hand, had 

 a single archway 1 1 or 12 feet wide, with a guard-chamber on each 

 side. The rampart had also corner turrets, and close to the south- 

 eastern turret an oven or hearth was found in 1899. In other forts 

 frequent traces of cooking and kitchen refuse have been discovered inside 

 the turrets. 



Of the interior of the fort little is known. The headquarters building 

 was partially cleared in 1899 (fig. 19). It measured 76 by 87 feet, was 

 entered by a door not quite in the middle of the north side, and contained 

 at the back three rooms, 



which may possibly have I ' ~|?-;'p. ""' 



once been divided by 



wooden partitions into the 



more usual five rooms. But 



no vault was found in it, 



nor have any certain traces 



been noticed of the usual 



colonnade and double court. 



It may have been simpler 



in plan than the ordinary 



headquarters building, and 



this, combined with the 



absence of a vault, may be 



thought to suggest an early 



date. Of other buildings 



only faint traces have been 



uncovered. On the west of 



the central building two 



tiled pilee of a hypocaust, some flooring of broken roof-tiles and a doorstep 



found in 1899 and 1905, may indicate a considerable structure. Near the 



north gate a floor of burnt clay (or something resembling clay) and some 



stout oakstakes sunk below the floor, found in 1905, suggest wooden 



barrack huts. For the rest we must await the teaching of the spade. 



Remains without the fort are equally little known. Mr. Watson in 



1771 noted worked stones above and below ground, and a subterraneous 



stream of water below the north-east angle of the fort near the Glossop 



Brook, which may possibly represent the bath-house, and another building 



has been suspected near the north-west gate. Of the cemetery hardly a 



vestige survives. In 1841, when a mill-dam was altered 100 yards 



east of the fort near Glossop Brook, a stone coffin was found, and near 



it a bronze coin of Domitian, but the two are probably not coeval. 1 



1 Hamnett, Deri. Arch. Journ. xxi. 10. Mr. Hamnett also mentions 'a sepulchral urn of red 

 earthenware,' found about 1800 at Woolley Bridge, half a mile north of Melandra, but now destroyed. 



213 



FIG. 19. HEADQUARTERS, MELANDRA. 



