A HISTORY OF DERBYSHIRE 



that period. If the cave was then inhabited its occupants were few and 

 insignificant and such as count for little in any survey of civilization. 1 



(/*) ASHWOOD DALE (fiUXTON) 



In Ashwood Dale, a mile from Buxton towards the south-east, a 

 small cave was explored by Mr. Salt in 1895. Its floor of dark earth, 

 6 to 1 2 inches deep, was found to contain ' an iron buckle of Roman 

 type,' a few other indistinguishable pieces of iron, a bit of leather, and 

 bones of sheep, goats, and domestic animals. Whether these remains date 

 from the Romano-British period must, however, be left doubtful. 8 



(g) CAVES OUTSIDE OF DERBYSHIRE 



These Derbyshire caves do not stand alone. Other limestone 

 districts in England contain caves which are known to have been 

 inhabited during the Romano-British period. Thor's cave, near Ham 

 and Wetton, in Staffordshire, but on the western verge of Derbyshire, 

 demands first notice here, as naturally a member of the Derbyshire group 

 of caves, though separated from its proper context by the accident of a 

 county boundary. Other striking parallels occur among the limestone 

 hills of Craven in West Yorkshire, the Dowkerbottom cave near Arncliffe, 

 the Victoria cave near Settle, the Kelco cave near Giggleswick ; and it 

 may not be amiss to notice some similar caves in other districts, such as 

 the Kirkhead cave near Ulverston, and Kent's Hole in Devonshire. A 

 conspectus of the Roman remains found in these various caverns may 

 illuminate the history alike of the whole series of the Derbyshire examples 

 and Romano-British civilization. 



(a) Thor's cave 8 lies inside a lofty precipice above the river Manifold, 

 half a mile from Wetton, in Staffordshire, and not far from Ashbourne. 

 It was explored in 1864-5, and in it were found Samian and other Roman 

 potsherds, stone querns, a sandstone disk, bone pins and combs, iron 

 knives and arrowheads, a lead spindlewheel, a ' Second Brass ' coin of 

 Hadrian, a bronze armlet and pins, and two bronze fibula?, which may 

 be ascribed to the second or the early third century. All these objects 

 were found in the earth forming the floor of the cave, together with many 

 animals' bones and other signs of cooking and fires. Some human bones 

 were also discovered, but no distinct vestiges of a burial. Apparently 

 the cave was occupied for a considerable time during the Roman 

 period.* 



(ft) The Victoria or King's Scar cave, high in the precipitous side of 

 a lonely gorge on the moors above Settle, was discovered and explored in 

 18378 and again in 1870. It yielded a great variety of Roman finds : 



1 J. Ward, Derb. Arch. Journ. xi. (1889), 31 ; xiv. 228 ; xv. 161 ; information from Mr. Ward. 



* Turner, Ancient Remains near Buxton, p. 75. 



1 See p. 233, note, for the explanation of the name. 



* S. Carrington, Reliquary, \\. (1865), 201 ; E. Brown, Midland Scientific Asm. papers, 1864-5, hence 

 Boyd Dawkins, Cave Hunting, p. 127. The two accounts do not altogether agree. 



