Page:History of Manchester (1771), Volume 1, by John Whitaker.djvu/173

1 4 4 T HE .HI S TOR Y i fiook L % The Romans therefore had certainly a ftation at Buxton. . 'Antt rliis is equally demonftrated by the concurrence of Roman roads at it. One proceeds to it froqn Manpheiier ; another courfes, £9 it over the Moors from Brough; a third acjvpnces to it* by Street in the vicinity of Goithe^dj and a -fourth jftretches towards it by Middle-ftreet and Over-ilreet in the road to. Braffington. And the ftation muft certainly have been contiguous to the Bath. The latter, as I fhdl loon evince, was clofe to St. Anne's Well and at the bottom of the hill. The former muft therefore have •been immediately above it and along, the plane, of the hilL And this lite is naturally defended by a high fteep flope upon two .fides and the little Wye clamouring at the. foot of it. The Roman road from Brough is popularly denominated the SBatham-Gate, appears, a long ftraight ftreak of green upon the heath about four miles from Brough, and pufhes by Smalldater Fold to Buxton The Roman road from Braffington runs long and broad over Braffington-Moor for feveral miles together, giv- ing denomination to Over-ftreet a little on this fide of Hurd- low and to Middle-ftreet a little beyond it. And the road from pur own to. this ftation commenced at the.eaftem extremity of the Caitle-field and betwixt the roads of Kindeyton and pf Slack, ♦Crofting the prefent highway, it entered theoppofite fields, and flanted along them, not in, a xlireft line for Stockport, but at firft an a ^Uredion for Garret-lane, then in another for the Medlocki . and afterwards in another for the Comebrook. This was plainly the original courfe of the road, as the nature, of the ground aad . the direction of the road in Longlight fufficiently fhew. Paffing. along the left hand of Gathemes-Field, and xroffing • the brook beyond it, the .Roman . xoad jnuft have mounted the little eminence of -Calley-Banks, - and have continued ypon the ' edge of it into; GarrettJane. This was the courfe of a , public -road even within .the prefent century; and -therefore no appear- ances <ef the Roman -conftau&ion can be expected along it. In Garret-lane, having obtained a proper line for the. ford over the Medlock, the Roman ioa4.n»uft: have made a confiderable angle, -have winded along the gentle defcent to Garret-Hall, have Teff Garret-