Monument record MDR11324 - Former road (course of), Duffield Bank, Duffield

There is a remarkable length of disused and grass-grown road at Duffield Bank which was pointed out … by the late Hon. Frederick Strutt… It is a third of a mile long, and lies in a straight line on the 200ft contour level between Duffield Bank House and Save Penny Lane, the latter being an old road to a ford across the Derwent near Duffield railway station and, at the same time, a parish boundary [see SMR 28798]. This road is strongly constructed of heavy rough pieces of coarse local sandstone, the principal layer of which is 17ft wide and 9in thick. Above this is a 4in layer of smooth river gravel, which is covered by five inches of turf soil … This road was out of use before the year 1789, at which date it was enclosed… It is difficult to think this is a modern road, as it seems hardly likely that such a well made road, if constructed in the seventeenth or eighteenth century, would have been abandoned so soon afterwards. The depth of soil accumulated on it is very considerable though somewhat less than that on the buried road adjacent to the canal at Little Chester, which I take to be Rycknield Street. This road on Duffield Bank would be well under the observation of persons on the site of Duffield Castle, which, of course, was occupied in Roman times. (1) An ancient road, long disused, connecting with the ford at Milford, can still be traced, running north and south in the fields between Duffield Bank House and Makeney House, and almost opposite to the site of the castle. Save Penny Lane is a branch from this road [see SMR 28798]. The now grass-grown road was examined by Mr Smithard, a well-known local antiquarian [see authority 1]. It is evidently a porion of the old Roman road connecting Derventio at Little Chester with that at Buxton. (2)