ROMANO-BRITISH DERBYSHIRE 



The road to which the milestone refers is the well-known Batham- 

 gate leading over the moors for 10 miles to Brough. As the milestone 

 was found under pasture at a depth of 3 or 4 feet, it may be taken to 

 have been, not indeed ' in situ,' but near its original position. We may 

 then infer that the Bathamgate started near Silverlands, and that the 

 milestone marked the point of departure (see p. 249). One other 

 Roman road passes Buxton. This is the road which runs from Little 

 Chester north-westwards to Buxton, and thence, in all probability, to 

 Stockport and Manchester. 



Such are the details of Roman Buxton. Obviously enough they 

 are imperfect. But they enable us to begin the history of the place. 

 The traces of baths show that at some time or other in the Roman 

 period there existed here a small bathing establishment. The Silverlands 

 finds show that a small village existed near it. The coins and potsherds 

 show that the occupation of the site began in some form or other before 

 the end of the first century, and continued during the second century. 

 In a later section of this chapter (p. 235) we shall find that Poole's 

 Cavern, which lies on the south-western outskirts of Buxton, not quite 

 a mile from Holker road, was inhabited during part at least of the 

 same period, though the precise connexion between bathers, villagers, and 

 cave-dwellers may not be easy to determine. 



Lastly, the Roman name of Buxton. This was probably Aquae. 

 The Ravennas geographer (430-5) places an Aquis somewhere in the 

 middle of England next to Nanione or Navione. This latter is a mis- 

 spelling of Anavione, Brough (p. 210), and Aquis can only be Buxton. 

 This was seen by several eighteenth-century antiquaries. Recent writers, 

 like Holder, have preferred to identify Aquis with Aquae Sulis, which is 

 Bath, and which does not otherwise occur in the Ravenna lists. But 

 Bath lies in a totally different part of England from that indicated by 

 the Ravennas. The inclusion 

 of Roman Buxton may per- 

 haps seem strange beside the 

 omission of Bath. But the 

 Ravenna lists are corrupt and 

 imperfect and contain many 

 examples of such inconsis- 

 tencies. 



7. LEAD-MINING 



In the Roman age, as in 

 many later days, lead-mining 

 was actively pursued in Derby- 

 shire. The mining area ex- 

 tends over what may be called 

 the west centre of the county, 



, __,. , , / Fie. 28. AREA OF ANCIENT MINING (ROMAN OR 



between Wirksworth on the OTHER) IN DERBYSHIRE. 



22 7 



