CHAPTER IV.
ROMAN REMAINS.
The history of Roman Lancashire has so recently been published[14] that, even if our space would allow (which it will not), it would be unnecessary, in a work of this description, either to furnish too much detail, or to dwell too long on the vexed questions of the subject which have not even yet been settled.
When the Romans invaded Lancashire, one of their chief difficulties was the want of roads, which rendered many parts of the district almost untenable, and to remedy this state of things, one of their first acts after conquest must have been to construct a way by which access could easily be gained to the newly–acquired territory. As everyone knows, the Romans were skilful in all kinds of engineering work, and as road–makers they have never been excelled; so durable were their pavements that we find remains of them still in all parts of the country. Up hill and down dale they went, from point to point, nearly always in a straight line—if a bog was in the way it was filled up; if a mountain, it was crossed. Taking these roads as they are now acknowledged by antiquaries to have run, and following alone their route, we shall come across the chief remains which time has left of our conquerors and rulers.
The main Roman roads in Lancashire are all believed to have been constructed during the Higher Empire; that is, at or before the time of Hadrian (A.D. 117–128). The minor roads are of later and uncertain date.
Of the nine towns which became Roman coloniæ, the nearest to Lancashire were Eboracum (York), and Deva (Chester), but Mancunium (Manchester) was also a great military centre, and from it there were five Roman roads.[15] Two of these came from the Cheshire side of the Mersey, one passing through Stretford, and the other through Stockport to Buxton.
All trace of the road from Manchester to Stretford has disappeared, but its course ran through Cornbrook (near which it was cut through by the Bridgewater Canal) and by the botanical gardens to Crossford Bridge, on the Mersey. A few small remains have from time to time been found at Stretford, but scarcely sufficient to justify the idea that here was a Roman camp.[16] On the Stockport side of the Mersey we have traces of the road to Buxton, but on the Lancashire side its site is covered by the modern highway, part of which is still known as High Street.
Another of the approaches to Manchester was from the east. This also only for a short distance was on Lancashire soil. It came from Yorkshire, and, passing through Glodwick and Hollinwood, in the parish of Oldham, skirts the township of Failsworth, where at the end of the last century it was visible for upwards of a mile, and was commonly known as the “Street,” or “Street Lane.”[17] At Newton Heath traces of it were seen in 1857, and Whitaker saw remains of it in Ancoats and Ardwick.
In making the Oldham Park, a number of copper coins from the period of Antoninus Pius (A.D. 135) to Victorinus (A.D. 218) were found, and in 1887, during the excavations made for Chamber Mill, near the site of the road, a box was unearthed which contained 300 bronze and brass coins. The following were verified: Antoninus Pius (A.D. 135–161), Marcus Aurelius (A.D. 161–180), Commodus (A.D. 180–193), Septimius Severus (A.D. 193–211), Caracalla (A.D. 211–217), Julia Mamica (A.D. 222–235).[18]