ROMANO-BRITISH DERBYSHIRE But Roman Derbyshire included other features which were not military. One is the mineral springs at Buxton. These were known and used during the Romano-British period, though they enjoyed far less popularity than the hotter and more accessible springs which rise in the agreeable climate of Bath. Another is the lead-mining industry. The limestone hills of Derbyshire, like those of Somerset, were rich in lead, and the Romans worked it freely in the neighbourhood of Matlock, and probably also on many sites north of it, as near Monyash, Stony Middleton, and Brough. With this mining we may connect various traces of casual inhabitation at or near these places, and others round them ; but of the period and the organization of the industry we know very little. A third, less important but very curious feature is presented by the traces of cave life, which occur especially near Buxton. This cave life is not, as has often been supposed, the result of the Saxon conquest of England. It does not belong to the fifth century, nor is it the remains of fugitive Britons sheltering in holes of the earth from barbaric pursuers. It may be dated rather to the period between the late first century and the middle of the third century, and it appears, in some caves at least, to have persisted for many years. Parallels to it, of similar date in the main, may be quoted from the caves near Settle and ArnclifFe in Yorkshire and from a few other sites, and it must be accepted as a feature, though not a common or predominant feature, in the civilization of Roman Britain. It is possible that further investigations may some day add one more element to the Roman remains of the county. The extreme south and east of Derbyshire, as has been said above (p. 200), are low-lying and suitable to agriculture, and we might expect to find a few villas here. That none have yet been discovered may well be due to accident. Villas occur only a little way outside the boundary of the county, as at Barton in Fabis and Mansfield Woodhouse in Nottinghamshire. It is, however, certain that many parts of the Midlands were but thinly inhabited in the Roman period, and it is likely enough that the absence of villas in any part of it may be due to this and not to the chances of discovery. 3. BROUGH From this general sketch we pass on to describe in detail the Roman remains found in the county and, first, the three forts of Brough, Melandra, and Little Chester. Brough is a tiny village hidden among the High Peak hills some ten miles west of Sheffield. Its position is significant. Here the deep valley of the little river Noe broadens out round Hope, Castleton, Bradwell and the mouth of Derwentdale, and forms the one real gap in the continuous uplands of north Derbyshire. Here is a little space of low, well-watered ground, fit for habitation, and here, if anywhere, a garrison might well be stationed to control the encircling hills. i 201 26
