Page:Roman Manchester (1900) by Charles Roeder.djvu/131

 and Mayen, on the Rhine probably, according to Mr. Bernard Hobson, of Owens College.

, 6 inches long and 4 inches wide or so, often found at Bridgewater Street.

, 4⅞ inches long diameter, 3 inches transverse diameter, found in the Roman soil by me at Bridgewater Street, 6 feet below the surface, well smoothed, of fine grained sandstone, probably a grain or corn crusher, and not one of Whitaker's sling-stones or ballistæ.

For the supply of their lime Whitaker suggested the limestone quarries at Ancoats (Ardwick), which appears quite correct. In examining trench No. 3 I paid particular attention to the composition of the material employed in raising their foundation walls, and by good chance extracted from the lowest layer, consisting of tenacious clay and boulder stones, a large lump, about 4 inches square, of half-burnt limestone, which must accidentally have rolled down during the building operations. On examining the piece with a lens I discovered the presence in it of the little shell Spirorbis, which characterises the Ardwick limestone. Later on I found a few more pieces in another trench. Even long after the departure of the Romans these valuable beds were remembered and quarried, for we find in 1322 mention made of the "kiln at the Ancoates" and of a "stany gate" leading to it (see Mamecestre, Gazetteer). It supposes that the vicinity must have been already well explored before the erection of the station in Deansgate. The late Mr. Mellor, a former manager of the Ardwick Limestone Works, states in a paper read at the Manchester