180 ROMAN BROUGH: = ANAVIO. 



interest in connection with the excavations described in the 

 ensuing pages. The Roman road is generally recognisable 

 though nothing may be visible of its original surface. The 

 military road has a definite objective ; it proceeds straight from 

 point to point ; it appears, disused maybe, on hilltops and in 

 unlikely places. Nearly all straight roads, especially those 

 which pass over hills, are popularly described as Roman; but 

 there are criteria to observe which it will be of interest to 

 examine in connection with later excavations. One well-defined 

 Roman road joins ancient Brough with the Roman sites at 

 Buxton {Aqua) to the south, and with Dinting (Melandra Castle) 

 to the north. 



The Roman fort (castellum) is no less generally known, but is 

 not to be confounded with the Roman camp (castra) of Latin 

 literature. There are, indeed, points of resemblance sufficient 

 to warrant a conjecture that both were based upon a common 

 general plan. Both were regular four-sided enclosures with gates 

 and ways and buildings symmetrically placed. But the camp, 

 whether a temporary affair, an earthwork thrown up on the 

 march, destined, maybe, to be evacuated after a single night, or 

 a permanent fortress, was in either case planned for a large 

 number of soldiers, a whole legion or more, and, as such, it 

 necessarily covered many acres of ground. 



The Roman fort, however, as its name implies, was smaller: 

 it was also permanent. Of late years archaeology has done 

 much to unearth it from oblivion and to demonstrate its true 

 character. The details of construction varied with changing 

 fashions and with the caprice of the local engineers, but from a 

 comparison of the numerous forts which at one time defended 

 the Roman frontiers of Germany and of Britain it is possible 

 to eliminate these eccentricities and to form some idea of the 

 general design. The enclosure was definitely small and strong ; 

 the permanent quarters of a garrison. Its area was commonly 

 four to six acres : it might be as small as three or as large as 

 eight.* The number of soldiers who might be quartered within 



* See a paper "On some features of Roman Military Defensive Works," 

 Hits. Soc. Lanes, and Ches. Vol. Hi. 



