Page:History of Manchester (1771), Volume 1, by John Whitaker.djvu/130

 Chap. IV. OF MANCHESTER, 101 boundaries of the two provinces Flavia and Maxima. But, certain as we are concerning the courfe of the road, the very mention of thefe boundaries (hews the number of the miles to be greatly erroneous. The limits of the provinces are the banks of the Merfey at Stretford: and thefe are only four or five Roman miles from the Caftle-field. And if Richard's other diftance of twenty- three miles to Condate be the right one, as we fhall find it to be, five mull be the number in this place ; five added to the following eighteen in the fixth Iter being equivalent to the . twenty-three in the tenth. This was pretty certainly the original., number. And the eye of Richard or his tranfcriber unwarily catch- ing the number eighteen immediately below, .his hand . inferted the latter inftead o/ the former . Differing equally from both and from truth are the numbers . in Antonine.. But the., difference may be removed with eafe and. without, any alteration of the* prefent figures. The two Itinera, of Antonine give us exaftly the fame number of miles for the. diftance betwixt; Caftle-field and Kinderton, as one Iter of Richard gives us for that betwixt JCinderton and Stretford. And from. this coincidence, it is highly probable, that the intermediate ftage, was originally inferted in .the .tenth Iter of Antonine as. well as. in the fixth. o£ Richard, and had the number five annexed to it in both ; and that the next, reckoning of eighteen miles com- menced from it in that Iter as well as in this. . This was very probably .the original* ftate of that Iter. And when this and all the fimilar notices, .which muft furely have been once inferted in Antonine' s as they now appear inRichard's Itinerary, were thrown out of the former, in order to abridge the work, the abridger overlooked the number annexed to this notice, ,and left the next to ftand as it flood before. The real diftance from. Caftle-field to Kinderton Camp is this. From the Crofs at.Manchefter to the Inn at Buckley-Hill die. diftance meafures about twelve miles, as from Buckley-Hill by Mere-town to Middlewich the diftance. meafures about other twelve. . But as we muft dedu& three quarters of a mile for the diftance betwixt the Caftle-field and the Crate at Manchester, fa ' j. muft