Page:History of Manchester (1771), Volume 1, by John Whitaker.djvu/211

 itz THE! HISTORY* BoofcL alia would be near or upon the road to Ribchefter. But thefe would be foifte of them too remote from the winter-ftation, .feme of them too remote from a fupply of waiter, and have none of them any veftiges of a camp upon them* Shall vye then pitch upon Howcaftle-field or Hill-wood for the itte of this additional caftrum? One of the very few antiquarians that Manchefter or its environs have hitherto produced did fondly iuppofe the fprmer to be the a&ual lite But as the latter is much too low and both are much too finall, fo is the former as much too remote from the bank of the Medlock, being more than three meafured miles and a half from it. The real lite appears to have been pretty near to the regular ftation, and about a mile to the north of it, and is now the lite of the Collegiate Church, the Collegiate Houfe or the Hofpital, and many other buildings. This is infinitely the propereft fite in the vicinity of the town that can pretend to attract the notice of the enquiring antiquarians. This is ablblutely the only lite in the vicinity of the ftation that could pretend to attract thp notice of the examining Romans. In the earlieft period [of the Saxon hiftory of Manchefter ^ele&ed for the feat ,of its lord, as I (hall Ihew hereafter % and accordingly denominated Baron's Hull and Baron's Yard, and a part of it ftill retaining the ap- pellation of Huntfbank, it, and it alone, is exa&ly fuch a lite as the exigencies of the Romans required. It is banked 1 on two fides by ribs of rocks either very fteep or ablblutely perpendicu- lar, and looks down from a very lofty fummit upon the waters of the Irke Healing dire&ly along it on the one fide, and upon the ftream of the Irwell breaking direfkly againft it on the other. It Ipreads its area of dry compacted land gently leaning to the north and weft, and from the lownels of thfc ground about it on the fouth-weft the weft north-weft and north-eaft, and from the conftant ventilations of the air by the brilknefs of the cur- rents below, peculiarly feels in the fummer a fucceffion of re- frefhing breezes. And thus admirably fitted for a camp by its formidable barriers upon two fides, and incomparably adapted for a fummeNcaiQp by its pofition upon two concurrent ft reams, it*