Charles Roeder

“ It clearly appears to a geological eye to mark the existence of an old transverse valley trending towards the Irwell, which at one time collected the surface-water of the higher grounds to the east. In all probability this dingle or valley stretched from Camp Street on one side, where we are on a constant rise, right across to the ridge on which the Roman station stands. At Campfield and Alport Town we stand again on the outcropping edge of the red rock, as proved by the recent railway excavations, and the rock after plunging away reappears on the southern side of castrum. ”

“ At Chetham College we observe, 5 feet below the undisturbed ground large blocks of undoubted Roman mortar, indicating the existence of compact foundation walls, similar to those of the north wall of the castrum in Deansgate; fragment of a roof tile, and below, at a depth of 7 feet, the existence of a Roman boulder-paved road, which again rests on a much older artificially, rock-cut fosse. The Roman road, in its turn, is slowly sanding up, and lying apparently waste and disused; in the sand we have the gorse bush, which could then take root and grow upon it ”

“ The fair amount, amongst them, of objects de luxe shows that the garrison and population enjoyed their full share of opulence and comfort, and, to judge from the enormous amount of pottery and articles found by me alone over a comparatively small area of the suburbs, the accumulation of the articles of daily life must, during a busy occupation, extending over three to four centuries, have become very great. Much has been lost during the last fifty years by indifference and ignorance, but what is left is sufficient to form a slight picture of the interesting life in Mancunium in its best days. ”

“ The Romans were obliged to carry their wall on the northern part through a stratum of greenish or blueish and sometimes dark-coloured clay, which reappears inside the castrum. The rocky neck or ridge on which Mancunium stands does not cover the whole internal area; in fact, it falls away gradually at a point about 200 feet away from the northern wall, apparently in a slope, the sides of the ridge being covered by a deposit of ancient valley gravel. This gravel rests practically on the under-lying and undulating red rock, which rises and falls at certain points. ”

“ The river Tib (now culvered over) formed a conspicuous Roman boundary, and carried a great volume of water in its pristine state, running, as it did, in many small curves, it often overleapt its boundaries and over-flooded its banks. ”

“ The presence of limestone quarries so close to the station offered a great advantage for the solid construction of their walls and buildings, it made them practically indestructible. No lime was used at Veratinum (Wilderspool) ; at Ribchester a little was used in one of the foundation walls for grouting; at Melandra I found some mortar, made of lime and gravel, adhering yet to some blocks of millstone grit, none in the foundations or walls; while, on the other hand, I picked up pieces of mortar, composed of pounded brick and lime, in Castle Hill, Northwich, Cheshire. ”

“ A lime kiln existed even in the last century at Knot Mill, and a Kilncroft Meadow is mentioned amongst the lands belonging to the demesne of the lordship of Hulme in 1616. When we recollect the dimensions of the castral walls, 175 yards by 140 yards, 6 feet to 7 feet thick, and probably 12 feet high, to which we have to add the interior and exterior buildings on the southern and eastern sides, including the large and thick cement floorings of the Roman baths, we can form an idea of the large quantities of limestone which were carried to, and burnt and slaked at, Castlefield. ”

“ In May, 1898, a long trench was made in Collier Street, leading to Southern's timber-yard, from the large stone post at the passage of the small coalyard to inside the railway arch, where we are on intra-castral ground. After penetrating the layer of rubbish and modern paving, we come upon a course of paving stones, underlaid by stiff, earthy clay, yellow soil, and stones. This shows that the area, just as at Castleshaw and Ribchester, was levelled with soil and stiff clay, and that it was paved with stones. ”

“ Thompson Watkin has collected all the literary evidence up to his time, and incorporated his labours in his great work, Roman Lancashire, but not being a resident and thus missing most of the important excavations effected during his time, it has scarcely, if at all, increased our information; besides an author, who had to treat the whole County Palatine, could not be expected to concentrate his attention on Manchester, which held out so little encouragement to him for work or practical research. ”

“ Another kind of blackware has a yellow inside and outside slip. Blackware exists in enormous quantities.
We have another kind, very soft, with a black or grey slip, the paste red or brown, and a fragment of a diagonally-lined ware, hard-burnt, of which the diagonals are produced by friction; the inner coating consists of a metallic slip of the colour of blacklead.
Grey-ware.—Its texture is homogenous, light grey, soft-burnt; its thickness varies from 1⁄8 inch to 3⁄16 inch. A Catinus from the inside of the Castrum has the potter's name, the only instance of such an occurrence at our station. ”

“ Mancunium, after this, disappears from history; some traditionary legends, however, lingered on through many centuries—even reaching into Whitaker's time—of a famous giant Tarquinius, said to have lived in Mancastle, at the Medlock. We have a few Anglo-Saxon sceattas (ranging from 450–600) , as already mentioned, found on the Roman highroad at Campfield, which possibly may fall within the time of the struggle between Eadwin and Æthelfrith, but we are left in darkness until the tenth century, when the Mercians rebuilt Manchester, which had been destroyed by the Danes. ”

“ In the first fosse, close to the wall, scarcely any pottery has been found; when we recede from the wall it becomes abundant, and more so near the edges of the fosses; at 90 feet away, the almost complete fragments of a large amphora (4 feet high) was found by me.
Whitaker, of course, misses the true character of the northern defences, and, being guided by his eyes alone, was naturally led away by mere appearances. What he saw was certainly a large hollow, 35 yards to 40 yards, or 105 feet to 120 feet wide, as he says, and this hollow is also well shown on Laurent's old map. ”

“ In referring to the plan we notice that in front of the first building a pedestal was placed on a flooring 7 to 8 inches thick, made with pieces of soft red rock and bedded in clay; 8 feet immediately to the east was
Building I., 20 feet long and 10 feet wide, floored with Roman cement (mortar and pounded brick) , the floor, 9 inches thick, "resting on a body of marl about as many in depth; at the further end from the pedestal were found human and animal bones lying under a decayed arch of Roman bricks, and fragments of urns." ”

“ The old Roman fort or castle must by that time have been already dismantled, a mere wreck of skeleton walls, and a previous prey to Picts and Scots. It is more in harmony with practical sense to assume that the rocky ridge at Hunt's Bank, which forms a natural defence, became their burgh, and that the old disused Roman town in Deansgate was in contra-distinction called the Aldport, or old village or town; Aldport was separated into Over Aldport, which in 1473 was a close of pasture (towards Castlefield) , and Nether Aldport, which in 1473 was a park (towards the deanery) . ”

“ We have no accurate knowledge of the old inhabitants of Lancashire at this period. In a general way we know that the west coast, from about the Mersey to the Lune, was occupied by the Segantii, while towards the slopes of the Pennine chain, and between the hills of Manchester and Leeds and Sheffield, we had the south-western Brigantes.
The former clustered, and were settled, in the estuary regions of the Ribble, Wyre, and Lune, which gave them great security, and made it difficult to dislodge or attack them. Agricola had to grip them from the two sides, from the land and sea concurrently. ”

“ In the earlier maps of Berry and Casson (1750) we find a small block of buildings, then a farmstead, called All Port Town, which extends across the present Deansgate into Camp Street.
The almost total absence of Roman pottery, &c., during the recent excavations seems to show that it must have been left to mere cultivation, [36] being on the outskirts; at its eastern side it was crossed by the road to Slack.
Any occupation of the site as a town by the Mercians or Northumbrians is most improbable, as it would have been the worst place one could choose for ready defence or protection. ”

“ We have seen already that foundations were discovered in Whitaker's time at the corner of Trafford Street (Crown Inn) , running 14 yards in length; also, close by, a Roman well, and in 1840 at the same spot a large hoard of Roman coins, mostly of gold and silver. Mr. Esdaile also speaks of some stone structure, not far away, on the banks of the adjacent Tib, and we have further attestation by the marvellous number of Roman objects I have obtained from the area under discussion at almost every footstep, particularly in Gaythorn and Knot Mill Station. ”

“ Later on, the natives were probably allowed to return, while the Roman military sphere was transferred to the new site at the Medlock. In consequence of the change, Deansgate must have become in course of time the centre of Roman life, with a specific population of soldiers, officials, and traders, while the tribe people would cluster more intimately around their ancient quarters at the banks of the Irk. Thus in course of time we probably had the Brito-Roman upper (or hill) town, and the Roman lower station at Castlefield. ”

“ The soil on the southern part [towards the station] of this area is absolutely one great body of adventitious earth, fragments of bricks, pieces of hewn stone, and remains of urns. Huge blocks of millstone grit have recently been dug up with the mortar adhering to them within the circuit of the area, and the whole level of the ground appears to have been traced with streets of regular pavement in a variety of directions across it. ”

“ On the north side of the castrum, rectangular to the Ribchester road, a number of parallel streets were built, reaching up to Camp Street and probably even to Quay Street, the occupied area being defined to the west by Lower Byrom Street. This part of the suburbs was most likely used by the soldiers and traders. Stepping across Knot Mill, we have evidence of a large building and a Roman well at the Crown Inn (Trafford Street) . Gaythorn has yielded a very rich field of finds; so have Trafford Street and Great Bridgewater Street, which also must have been largely occupied. ”

“ The series of Roman buildings on the southern half, forming the site of the Cathedral, seems to point to a closer occupation of this more elevated area.
I think I have succeeded in showing that Hunt's Bank was the Roman starting-point; as a corollary it follows also that from here probably issued forth the road on which they first advanced into Yorkshire, namely, the Blackstone Edge route, which, as the map [83] shows, is a less direct and more circuitous though easier and therefore an older track road than the one viâ Castleshaw. ”

“ The construction of the Altrincham railway in 1849, which diagonally cut through the whole area of the castrum from east to west, destroyed and effaced whatever foundations were in existence, and narrow-minded officialism prevented antiquaries from entering the precincts to note the many discoveries which are sure to have been made. To formulate any idea of the internal buildings, and how they were planned and assigned, we are thrown upon the researches now made at Melandra, Ribchester, and Wilderspool for completing the lacunae. ”

“ We have seen that the northern rocky ledge, now covered by Chetham College, is traversed on the south side by a long-drawn rock-cut fosse, which swept in a curve to the Grammar School, and further strengthened by the natural double-defence of Hanging Ditch gully and its artificial prolongation terminating in the latter Toad Lane or Todd Street. This additional cordon formed a complete outer circle.
This fosse was filled up with sand and levelled, at a later period, to allow the super-construction of the posterior Roman boulder road. ”

“ Much remains to be done yet for the reconstruction, on modern lines, of Roman Lancashire, and we require excavations at Walton and many other places yet, before filling in the blanks, to form correct notions of Roman life and administration in these parts. The position of Coccium, whether Wigan or Blackrod, has also to be settled yet in a more satisfactory manner, and, above all, every find should minutely be registered and its position defined and described. ”