Page:Roman Manchester (1900) by Charles Roeder.djvu/169

 Passing now from Fennel Street and Hyde's Cross to Withy Grove, I was informed by one of the gangers, Jim Kennedy, that in excavating for the foundations for the Evening Chronicle buildings (between Mark Lane and Huntsman's Court) a road, 12 feet long and 2 feet 6 inches deep, made of boulder stones (medium size) and "like cement-mixed, running apparently in a line with the old Corn Exchange, was discovered, passing right through the bottom of the building" was found at a great depth. A little higher up Withy Grove on the same side (the north side) the Manchester Magazine, August 8th, 1788, mentions a large plot of land, called Cold Ar-e Meadow, a word which it has been suggested corresponds with the Latin Arx. However that may be, I wish to point out that these two sites are just a little beyond Hanging Ditch, towards the Shude Hills, the weakest point of the defence of the Hunt's Bank promontory to the east.

I think we are now better fitted out to define the original locality occupied by the local Brythons prior to, and at the time of the first arrival of the Roman invaders here. One was naturally inclined to look to Castlefield as their original seat, the more so as here alone we have the visible demonstration of the castrum walls; but still its topographical position offered a serious obstacle, often dwelled upon by enquirers, to carry full conviction for accepting such a view. In studying the contours of Castlefield we find that the station itself is partly built at a level of about 105 feet