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CHAP. 6.

British and

seen on the east side of the Derwent, between Little Chester and Sawley ferry, bearing thence to the station at Leicester, or Willoughby on the Fosse; nor indeed is it likely that so important a place as Little Chester Roman should have been without some communication of this sort on the side of Rate. In fact, this would be the continuance of the Roman road from Buxton in its original bearing.

"Having thus collected as much as is at present known of the Roman roads in this county, we come in course to consider the towns or stations on them.

Roads.

Roman

Stations.

or Little Chester.

At LITTLE CHESTER, the Roman Derventio, which stands on the east Derventio bank of the Derwent, about half a mile from Derby, there was a Roman town. Few vestiges of the ancient station are now to be seen; though Dr. Stukeley, who endeavoured to ascertain its form and extent in the year 1721, observes, that he "traced the tract of the wall all round, and in some places saw underground the foundations of it in the pastures, and some vaults along the sides." The station, he continues, "was of a square form, and the castrum five hundred feet by six hundred. Within the walls are foundations of houses; and in the fields round the castle may be seen tracts of streets laid with gravel." These observations of the Doctor's are considered as having been just and accurate; though, from the alterations made since the above time, no tracts of streets are now to be discovered in the pastures; and the only ways laid with gravel, is one, which running east and west, nearly intersects the station into two equal parts; and a second, which extends from the north-east corner in a direct line across the pastures towards Breadsall.*

The foundations of an ancient bridge, leading from Little Chester across the Derwent, may still, it is said, be seen when the water is clear.† Another circumstance, proving the remote origin of the station, is the variety of Roman coins that have at many different times been discovered here. They consist both of silver and copper; the latter so corroded and defaced, that the legends are mostly unintelligible; but the former in better preservation, and exhibiting, among others, the names of the following emperors: Tetricus, Galianus, Pictorinus, Posthumus, Vespatianus, Antonius Pius, Hadrianus, Marcus, Aurelius Antoninus, Crispina, Gordianus, Antoninus Augustus, Trajanus, and Carausius.

Coins.

The Roman coins found at Little Chester are generally very much de- Roman cayed, owing to their being found in the soil and turned up accidentally by the spade; still there is no doubt but a very extensive collection might have been formed, had care been taken of them. The following list is a, few found at Little Chester.

SEVERVS AVG. PERT. MAX. rev. FVNDATOR PACIS. A female figure standing stolated and veiled, holding a dead branch in her right hand (arg. 54 grains) AD 208.

L. SEPT. SEV. AVG. (the rest imperfect) rev. VICT. PARTHICA. Figure, Victory standing holding in her right hand a laurel, and in her left military trophies; at her feet a captive (arg. 37 grains.)

• Pilkington's View of Derbyshire, Vol. II. page 199.

+ When Darley Grove was broken up, in the year 1820, skeletons, coins, and various Roman relics were discovered.

CHAP. 6. IMP. SEV. ALEXAND. AVG. rev. PM. TR. P. XII. COS. III. P.

Roman Coins.

P. Figure, Mars gradiens, over his shoulder a mantle, the right hand extended, in the left a whip, the lash nowed (base silver, 49 grs.) AD. 222.* †MAXIMINVS PIVS AVG. GERM. rev. FIDES MILITVM. Fig. standing holding in each hand a signum militare (arg. 43 grains) AD

235-6.

IMP. PHILIPPVS AVG. rev. SAECVLARES AVG. G. in the centre
a column, on which is COS. III. (arg. 564 grains) A.D. 244–9.
IMP. PHILIPPVS AVG. rev. SAECVLARES AVGG. Figure, an
antelope (arg. 48 grains.)

IMP. M. IVL. PHILIPPVS AVG. rev. PM. TR. P. III. COS....P. P.
Figure, a female standing stolated, in the right hand a spear, ending in
a caduceus, in her left a cornucopia (arg. 46 grains.)

FL. MAX. THEODORA AVG. rev. PIETAS ROMANA. Figure, a female standing nursing a child in her left arm and holding her right hand on her breast, to the left of the figure is a cross patee; in the exergue T. R. P. (small brass) 292.

IMP. CARAVSIVS P. P. AVG. rev. MONETA. Figure standing holding a balance in her right hand and a cornucopia in her left. 3d. B. AD 293, 300.

IMP. CARAVSIVS P. P. AVG. rev. PAX. AVG. Figure standing holding in the right hand a branch, in the left a hasta, entwined with a serpent. 3 B.

Another the same, excepting that the figure holds a cornucopia instead of a hasta. 3 B.

IMP. CONSTANTINVS P.P. AVG. rev. PRINCIPI IVVENTVTIS.
Figure, a warrior holding in each hand a signum militare, between the
letters S. A. under his feet PTR. (2 B.) AD 306–337.

IMP. CONSTANTINVS MAX. AVG. rev. VICTORIAE. LARTAE
PRINC. PERP. An altar charged with a star, over which two figures
of Victory are holding a shield, inscribed VOT. PR. in the exergue STR.
IMP. CONSTANTINVS AVG. rev. SOLI INVICTO COMITI.
Figure, Mars.

IVL. CRISPVS NOB. CAES. rev. BEATA TRANQVILLITAS. A
votive altar, inscribed VOTIS XX. on the top of which is the globe of
the earth, and above it three stars: exergue PTR. AD 318-326.
FL. IVL. CRISPVS NOB. CAES. rev. CAESARVM NOSTRORVM.
Within a garland VOT. X. and exergue P SIS.

CONSTANTINVS IVN. NOB. C. rev. GLORIA EXERCITVS. Two
signa militaria between two soldiers, each holding a scutum and pilum:
in the exergue TRS AD 340.

Ditto, the letters in the exergue being TRP.

+ Ditto, the letters in the exergue being SHANG.

DN. FL. CL. CONSTANTINVS NOB. C. rev. PROVIDENTIAE
CAESS. In the centre a castle or wall with a gateway, and at the top
three balls; exergue SMHE. AD 340.
CONSTANS P. P. AVG. rev. GLORIA EXERCITAS. On a signum
Those marked thus are in the possession of Mr. Lomas, the rest of Mr. Swanwick.

militare, the letter M between two warriors, each holding a scutum and pilum. AD 340.

CHAP. 6.

Roman

CONSTANS P. P. AVG. rev. VICTORIAE D. D. AVGG. Q. N. N. A Coins. star between two figures of Victory, each holding a laurel, in the exergue TR. P.

Ditto, a heart instead of the star, and the exergue TRS.

Ditto, the letter M. in the place of the heart or star.

Ditto, a tree

M.}

FL. IVL. CONSTANTIVS NOB. C. rev. GLORIA EXERCITVS. Two signa militaria between two soldiers, each holding a scutum and pilum. The letters in the exergue not legible. AD 340.

Ditto, the letters in the exergue being SLC.

Ditto, with only one signum militare, charged with a patera, and the letters in the exergue CONST.

CONSTANTIVS AVG, rev. GLORIA EXERCITAS. One signum militare, charged with between two soldiers as before.

P

CONSTANTINOPOLIS rev. Victory standing on the prow of a ship, holding in her right hand a spear, and resting her left on a shield: exergue TRP.

VRBS ROMA rev. Lupa suckling Romulus and Remus; above two stars; exergue PLC.

Ditto, the letters TR. S.

Ditto, the letters TRS. with a star.

Ditto, with three stars above, and exergue S. CONST.

Ditto, a laurel between two stars above; exergue TRS.

FL. MAGNENTIVS P. F. AVG. rev. VICTORIAE D. D. N. N. AVG.
ET CAE. Two figures of Victory supporting a shield, charged with.
VOT. V. MVLT. X. above it a symbol. AD 353.

Ditto, without the symbol, there are letters in the exergue, but not legible.
DN. MAGNENTIVS P. F. AVG. rev. GLORIA ROMANORVM. A
soldier on horseback, in his right hand a pilum, in his left a scutum,
riding over military spoil to strike an enemy who is thrown on his back
and supplicating mercy; in the exergue AMB.-NB. Behind the head
of the three last is the letter A.

ton found.

On the 16th of September, 1824, whilst the work-people of Mr. Harrison, engineer of this town, were digging for a foundation of a wall upon the green adjoining Little Chester, the greater part of the bones of a male Male Skeleskeleton were discovered, lying in a straight horizontal position, fifteen inches below the surface, with the head towards the north. The workmen destroyed the skull before they were aware of the existence of the skeleton, and the softer bones of the hands and feet had nearly mouldered away. From admeasurement of the bones which remained, the man must have stood upwards of five feet ten inches.

Iron rivets, much corroded, were found near various parts of the body and limbs, and thin strata of an ochre yellow, surrounding the trunk and extremities, situate an inch and a half from the bones; the colour of these strata was similar to that of the rivets, which, together with their situation, can leave but little doubt that the remains were those of a warrior buried in

armour.

ton found.

СНАР. 6. It has been thought by some not conversant with the subject, that the MaleSkele- state of preservation of the bones prove them not to be of great antiquity. These ideas are decidedly incorrect. It may be well to give the opinions of the best antiquarians on this point, which are, that there are many instances on record where the skeleton of the ancients has been found preserving its primitive form, although not protected by any envelope. We may also allude to the antediluvian organic remains, a beautiful and well known instance of which lately appeared at Hopton, in this county, where the bones of the rhinoceros and other animals were found imbedded at a considerable depth in a moist earth.

Whether this was a warrior buried hastily, or interred with funeral rites, is a point difficult to decide; but there is a very interesting remark in Mr. Douglas's work, stating that the burial places of the Romans in this kingdom are very rarely discovered, owing to their custom of interring the dead at no great distance from their stations, by the side of the public road. This observation is given to show that the congregated inhumation of bodies was not by any means universal among the Romans, and it is no proof to the contrary even where a number of bodies have been found together under a barrow, as various works on the funeral tumuli of the Romans show, where Roman insignia have been found, the cairn or barrow was the sepulture of British warriors in the Roman service, as the barrow was not of Roman usage; but it must be recollected, when the Romans buried their dead with funeral obsequies, it was usually their custom to place sculptured devices or sepulchral inscriptions over the remains. As nothing of the sort was found, it favours the opinion of a man having been hastily interred in military accoutrements. With regard to the position, Sir R. Colt Hoare states, that the most ancient form of burial was with the head towards the north, which would probably be adhered to in ecclesiastical as well as military rites. Although this skeleton was surrounded by a clay very impervious to wet, which tended greatly to its preservation, still on exposure to the atmosphere, it was evident that the bones, which were fractured in many parts, would soon crumble away. An accurate cast was taken in plaster of Paris on the spot, whilst the specimen remained partially imbedded in the clay, by Mr. Douglas Fox, surgeon. The affixed plate is a diminished representation of the cast, and of one of the rivets, in its full size.

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CHAP. 6.

Roman coins have frequently been found in different parts of this county. In 1740, an urn, filled with denarii, was dug up at a place called Green- Roman haigh lane, in the parish of Alfreton. In 1748, fifteen or sixteen hundred Coius, denarii, chiefly of Trajan, Hadrian, the Antonines, and Sept. Severus, were found in a close, on a farm called New Grounds, in the same parish. In 1761, many small copper coins, of the lower empire, were found upon Crich Cliff, in the foundation of a small building of unhewn gritstone, ten feet square. About the year 1770, a great number of denarii were found in a place called Stuffins wood, in Pleasley. In 1778, an urn filled with coins of Diocletian, Constantine, &c. was dug up in Culland park.* In 1784, about seventy Roman coins, chiefly of Hadrian, Severus, and Constantine the younger, were found at Burton wood, about four miles from Ashbourn.† In 1788, an earthen pot full of Roman copper coins, was found upon Edge moor, in Crich common.‡

"Another Roman town was at Brough, in the parish of Hope. It stood Brough. in some fields called the Halsteads, in an angle formed by the junction of two brooks, Bradwell and the Noe, a situation which the Romans seem always to have chosen if they could possibly obtain it. It is of the shape also to which they gave a preference, an oblong of three hundred and ten feet by two hundred and seventy; three of the sides being still nearly perfect. Only one or two coins have been found: but urns, bricks, stone columns, foundations, one of a temple or other large building, and a tile with the remains of an inscription, COH. undoubtedly for Cohors, have been discovered; and two decided roads, as we have seen, certainly met there. The name is unknown, but the town is undoubtedly Roman.

In the township of Gamesley, north of Charlesworth, åre vestiges of an ancient station, called MELANDRA CASTLE, which, from its appearance, and an inscription found there, seems to have been Roman; though no writer, previous to the late Rev. Mr. Watson, has ever mentioned it as made by that people. The following is an extract from that gentleman's description, inserted in the third volume of the Archæologia.

"It is situated, like many Roman stations, on moderately elevated ground, within the confluence of two rivers, and was well supplied with good water. Very fortunately the plough has not defaced it, so that the form cannot be mistaken: the ramparts, which have considerable quantities of hewn stones in them, seem to be about three yards broad. On two of the sides were ditches, of which part remains; the rest is filled up: on the other sides there are such declivities that there was no occasion for this kind of defence. On the north-east side, between the station and the water, great numbers of stones lie promiscuously, both above and under ground: there is also a subterraneous stream of water here, and a large bank of earth, which runs from the station to the river. It seems very plain, that on this and the north-west side have been many buildings; and these are the only places where they could safely stand, because of the declivity between them and the two rivers. The extent of this station is about one hundred and twenty-two yards by one hundred and twelve. The four gates or openings into it are exceedingly visible; as is also the foundation of a building

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Melandra

Castle.

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