Page:History of Manchester (1771), Volume 1, by John Whitaker.djvu/111

 8 4 THE HISTORY Book t of the heath. And the gravel of it is eafily found in the ground-made flooring of the loom-houfe within it. Entering the fields that lie betwixt the heath and Back-Iahe r and traverfing them obliquely a little to the right of the foot* road, the Roman way is difcovered by the fpade at the farther end of the firft field, appears with a ridge in the third, and re- appears with another in the eighth. In the third the ridge rifes' about half a yard m height, and continues acrofs the Whole breadth of the field ; but in the eighth the ridge is fmall * and the gravel low. And from this point, running nearly parallel with the courle of the Back-lane and within the dtftance of a few yards from it, the Roman road muft have proceeded through the houfes at the extremity of Lort-lane and through the barn and houfes of Wagftafle-fbld. And it Wai accordingly difcovered a few years ago upon the conftru&ion of the barn* Spon afterwards, croffing the curving line of the Back- lane, it falls dire&ly into another, and extends along it to Hollinwood. This is a lane whkh iscontinucd about amile and an half In length, which courfes all the way in a diredt line, and which is all the way denominated Street. And about eighty yards from the entrance are fome remains of the road which ar6 remarkably perfect, and which carry the grandeft appearance of any Roman remains that I have fcen in the ifland. In this lane the range of a mofs interfered the courfe of the road. An houfe on the right is (KIT denominated the Mofs- Yate; the fields on either fide ftill ftrongly retain their mofly quality ; and the rotten flocks and the branchy bodies of trees are ftill frequently difcovered by the plough. And this morafly traft appears to have extended a whole mile in length acrofe the 1 line of the^Rdman road, fome part of it being tolerably firm thi dry, but others being particularly dangetoftS arid deep. About fifty yards within the entrance into Street-lane, tl^ Roman road reaches the margin of the mofi, and immediately 1 prefents a corifiderable ridge to the eye, having inftantly an eleva- tion of a yard and an half above the contiguous* grotind eta thh left. In fixty yards more, die ground fldpihg fharply ahtatytm the right,