Page:Roman Manchester (1900) by Charles Roeder.djvu/67

 Dumville Street, Tickle Street, upper Quay Street, Hardman Street, Cumberland Street, Spinningfield, Wood Street, upper Bridge Street, Lower King Street, St. Mary's Street, and then along the present upper Deansgate.

It was bedded on a stratum of strong gravel, ½ yard to 1 yard deep, bordered with large squarish stones at the sides, at its lower end, paved with boulder stones; and, at the deanery, it was flagged with white sandstone, and resting in a layer of clay and gravel, &c.

The road to Condate (the Second Iter) was 14 yards wide and 1½ yards deep; to Coccium (the Tenth Iter), 13 yards wide; to Cambodunum (the Second Iter), 14 yards wide and 1½ yards deep at the castrum, but constantly varied in width, and contracted to 8 yards and 10 yards at Newton Heath and onwards; the one to Ribchester was only 5 yards wide, but more elaborated and flagged as we have seen.

The construction of the roads is so intimately connected with the history of the Roman conquest of Lancashire and Yorkshire that it is necessary at this point to devote a few remarks to the subject for a clear understanding of the probable date of their formation. We have, therefore, to concentrate our attention for a few minutes on the position of Chester, as the military focus, at the estuary of the river Dee. It was probably in existence already, as a fortress, about the latter part of Claudius's reign (50–54), and held by Suetonius in his campaign against Anglesey (61). The chief work (in the words of Professor Haverfield) was a double defence against Wales and the Irish pirates, for which its position was admirably fitted, by enabling the Roman generals to operate by sea and land. With the northern belt of forts stretching from