ROMANO-BRITISH DERBYSHIRE The road to which the milestone refers is the well-known Batham- gate leading over the moors for 10 miles to Brough. As the milestone was found under pasture at a depth of 3 or 4 feet, it may be taken to have been, not indeed ' in situ,' but near its original position. We may then infer that the Bathamgate started near Silverlands, and that the milestone marked the point of departure (see p. 249). One other Roman road passes Buxton. This is the road which runs from Little Chester north-westwards to Buxton, and thence, in all probability, to Stockport and Manchester. Such are the details of Roman Buxton. Obviously enough they are imperfect. But they enable us to begin the history of the place. The traces of baths show that at some time or other in the Roman period there existed here a small bathing establishment. The Silverlands finds show that a small village existed near it. The coins and potsherds show that the occupation of the site began in some form or other before the end of the first century, and continued during the second century. In a later section of this chapter (p. 235) we shall find that Poole's Cavern, which lies on the south-western outskirts of Buxton, not quite a mile from Holker road, was inhabited during part at least of the same period, though the precise connexion between bathers, villagers, and cave-dwellers may not be easy to determine. Lastly, the Roman name of Buxton. This was probably Aquae. The Ravennas geographer (430-5) places an Aquis somewhere in the middle of England next to Nanione or Navione. This latter is a mis- spelling of Anavione, Brough (p. 210), and Aquis can only be Buxton. This was seen by several eighteenth-century antiquaries. Recent writers, like Holder, have preferred to identify Aquis with Aquae Sulis, which is Bath, and which does not otherwise occur in the Ravenna lists. But Bath lies in a totally different part of England from that indicated by the Ravennas. The inclusion of Roman Buxton may per- haps seem strange beside the omission of Bath. But the Ravenna lists are corrupt and imperfect and contain many examples of such inconsis- tencies. 7. LEAD-MINING In the Roman age, as in many later days, lead-mining was actively pursued in Derby- shire. The mining area ex- tends over what may be called the west centre of the county, , __,. , , / Fie. 28. AREA OF ANCIENT MINING (ROMAN OR between Wirksworth on the OTHER) IN DERBYSHIRE. 22 7
