214 ROMAN MINOR SETTLEMENTS, ETC. 



Street,* and another road from a little above Pentrich to 

 Wirkswortb. That there are traces of such roads is certain, but 

 they have never been examined with the view of testing their 

 origin. The straightness of the road along the Chevin by Belper, 

 and on to Wirksworth, is remarkable, and there is no doubt but 

 that Brough would have communication, like all other Roman 

 stations, with the castra surrounding it in every direction. It has 

 been said that there was a road from Brongh to York, but no 

 certain traces have ever been found. 



It has likewise been thought, and with great probability, that a 

 Roman road which comes near to Macclesfield from the west, was 

 continued to Buxton. I saw some traces of a road pointing in 

 this direction from the camp at Foot Hill, above Forest Chapel, in 

 1874, which I conclude are part of this line. 



Nichols, in- his History of Leicestershire, speaks of a bridle-road 

 from Derby to Coventry, taking a most circuitous route, which 

 was supposed to be Roman. I have no doubt whatever, that it 

 is not Roman at all ; portions of it still remain to verify my 

 statement. 



With the exception of that at Little Chester, which I have 

 formerly described, I do not know of an undoubted instance of a 

 Roman botontinus being visible in the county, though there must 

 have been many. Of several mounds I have a strong suspicion 

 that they are such, especially one at Breadsall in the glebe lands. 



From the number of places in the county, the names of which 



* The only Roman road in the county to which I have given anything more 

 than the most casual attention, is the one from Wirksworth to the Rykneld 

 Street, a road that, I believe, had been altogether unnoted. When at 

 Hazehvood, I had frequent opportunities of noting the part nearest to the 

 Derwent. It crossed the Derwent, I believe, at a foid that is still occasionally 

 used between Milford and Duffield Station. Thence it mounted the Chevin, 

 being observable in grass fields at the back of Moscow farm. Crossing the 

 ridge of the Chevin at a very obtuse angle, it keeps the rough road on the 

 Belper side of the ridge, close to the Rifle Butts, for about half-a-mile. 

 Leaving Farnah Creen immediately to the left, it crosses the present road from 

 Hazelwood to Belper, and goes down a steep descent to Black Brook. In its 

 very steep ascent it follows the line by a seldom used road as far as the place 

 marked on the Ordnance Map as Knave's Cross. Up this steep ascent, 

 through Street Close (rarish Map), some of the original paving is, or was 

 recently, visible. Here, in 1873, between the stones, I found several 

 fragments of Samian ware. — Editor. 



