Page:Roman Manchester (1900) by Charles Roeder.djvu/63

, 23 Roman miles long. It was at its issue from the fork at the east gate 14 yards wide and 1½ yards deep, made of melted bricks and broken millstones, constructed with strong gravel, mingled with large boulders and fragments of sandstone. It was seen by me again in August, 1897, in the block between Trafford Street and Great Bridgewater Street, slanting diagonally through the central area in a direction pointing to the site of the Wesleyan Chapel in Great Bridgewater Street. It could be traced for 19 feet. Starting from below, it rested on the yellow pre-Roman soil, in which I found a hazelnut imbedded, then follows: 3 inches stiff, yellow-reddish clay; 5 inches burnt brick, iron nails, small rubble stones, charcoal, and pieces of pottery; 8 inches boulder stones, 8 by 6 by 4 inches; 8 inches middle-sized gravel; 2 inches rubble stone and clay; total, 26 inches; topped by a further deposit—probably of a later period—of 19 inches loamy soil and gravel dispersed through it pieces of coal and Roman pottery; 26 inches rubbish (modern).—See section.

At the Wesleyan Chapel the ground must have sloped very considerably, for Roman pottery was found here at a depth of 14 feet to 15 feet.

At Ancoats Lane the road is 16 yards to 17 yards wide, with a ridge of ¾ yard of gravel and ¼ yard of marl. In Butler's Lane it is reduced to 5 yards to 6 yards.

In the miry expanse of Newton Heath, where it pointed directly upon the chapel, it was 8 yards to 10 yards wide, and consisted of a ridge of ½ yard of gravel.

At Street Lane it reached the margin of the moss. The construction of the road here is of great interest. Whitaker says: "The road is carried for no less than 400 yards across the hollow of the moss. I made a large incision into the bed of the turf beneath the Roman