ROMAN MINOR SETTLEMENTS, ETC. 211 



be seen in the lane. It then enters Bull Meadow, running up the 

 hedge on the left, but soon appears again in the lane leading to 

 Smaldale, where the right hand hedge stands upon it. It then 

 runs into the enclosures called the Doctor's Pastures and Bagshaw 

 Pasture, and after crossing Gray Ditch, bends N.W. to ascend the 

 hill, being found by the spade and plough in a line well known to 

 the farmers, till it comes upon the moor three-quarters of a mile on 

 the Brough side of Bathom edge, where the crest of it is quite plain, 

 to the stone fence which separates Bradwell and Tideswell Moors, 

 retaining here its original breadth of 18 or 20 feet, and visible in 

 a long straight streak of green, amidst the heather. It is also 

 visible on the Buxton side of this hedge for about a mile, bearing 

 S.W. for the inclosures at the dam in the forest, and crosses the 

 turnpike road from Manchester to Chesterfield, then after just 

 entering Hernstone Lane, it is visible in the field on the left, where 

 in a dry summer the grass is of a different colour ; from hence it 

 runs in a straight green lane towards Fairfield, being seen again 

 on Fairfield Moor, and is found by digging to have kept the same 

 line to the hill above Buxton." The road is known by the name 

 of the " Batham Gate," evidently derived from the " Bath " at 

 Buxton. There seems to be a slight discrepancy between the 

 Bishop's account of its course and the Ordnance Survey, in the 

 portion of the road immediately before entering the station at 

 Buxton, but the road itself has been traced beyond all doubt as 

 connecting the two stations named. (See also Bib. Top. Brit. 

 pt. xxiv., pp. 34 to 42.) 



Another Roman road connected Manchester with Buxton, via, 

 Stockport, but it has been much destroyed, and its course within 

 this county, which was only some three or four miles, has not been 

 accurately determined. It probably crossed the Goyt near Goyt's 

 Bridge. 



There is little doubt but that the modern road from Buxton 

 to Leek in Staffordshire, is upon the site of a Roman one ; its 

 straightness, and some remarkable angles in it, show decided 

 traces of Roman engineering. It probably connected Buxton with 

 the station at Chesterton, near Newcastle-under-Lyne. 



