Roman roads in Derbyshire
Roman Derbyshire was lead country. The orefield of the White Peak was worked from the first century, and lead pigs stamped Lutudarum have been found across the province and beyond. Ryknild Street runs north through the county on a line the A38 still largely follows, and the fort at Little Chester near Derby guarded the crossing of the Derwent.
- Mapped segments
- 24
- Surveyed length
- 220 km
- Named roads
- 1
Measured from the Itiner-e survey within the modern county boundary, which for Yorkshire, Cheshire and the other counties broken up in 1974 means the traditional area reassembled from its present-day parts. The survey maps far more road than it attributes to a named route, so the segment count counts everything, and the named roads below are only those with a history recorded here.
Where to see it
Little Chester, on the edge of Derby, has the fort site marked and interpreted. Buxton was Aquae Arnemetiae, one of only two Roman spa towns in Britain, and Derby Museum holds the lead pigs and mining material that explain why the roads came here at all.
Named roads through Derbyshire
Ryknild Street
Bourton-on-the-Water to Templeborough