Buxton Local History Society

“Blue Plaques.”

​6. The Roman Milestone.

Buxton is on the crossing of two Roman roads, one roughly north-south from Manchester to Derby; the other east-west from Brough to Chester. The presence of milestones should not be a surprise but only one has been found, recorded, and preserved. (Another was recorded but said to have been buried in the foundations of a stable).
The stone is recorded as being discovered in 1862 [1], another source says 1856 [2], in the garden of Matthew Lee, beside the Silverlands road. The accounts also disagree as to whether it was horizonal or vertical in the ground. The stone was initially given to John Bates, the editor of the Buxton Advertiser, who sold it to a Mr. Wright of Derby. It then seems to have disappeared for a short while before appearing in the Derby museum and then arriving in Buxton on the 15th October 1918 [3].

The Romans used a considerable amount of shorthand on stones such as this but the consensus is that it reads: - Tribunitia potestate. Consul II. Pater Patriae. Anavione Millia Passeum XII. Translated as: Invested with the power of a Tribune - Consul for the second time - Father of his country - To Anavio twelve thousand paces [4]. This is twelve Roman miles, roughly 11 English miles. The problem is that the upper half is missing, so who the Consul was is unknown.