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An archaeological dig at Little Chester circa 1980

It seems to be the case that the Romans were the first people to settle in what is now Derby and establish a community.

The Roman army set up a fort in AD50 at Strutt’s Park, to protect the river crossing on the western side of the Derwent.

Around 30 years later they built a large, new fortified settlement across the river at what is now called Chester Green. They called it Derventio. Archaeological excavations of the site revealed that the defences of this fort were rectangular and surrounded by two deep ditches placed l00 ft apart. A clay rampart was later added, and later still the site was reinforced with a thick stone wall some I0 - I5ft high.

Gradually a civil settlement grew up around the camp and in the 1970s an industrial suburb of Derventio was discovered on the old Derby Racecourse playing fields, consisting of a 25ft wide road lined with timber buildings, two pottery kilns and a cemetery.

The great Roman Road of Rykneld Street connected the garrisons of the north - which was largely wild - and the more civilised Roman towns of the south, passed straight through Derventio.

The Romans also established forts at Buxton, Chesterfield (Castrafeld), and Glossop (Melandra/Ardotalia). There was also a small fort at Pentrich along Rykneld Street - which is believed to have run from Derby to Rotherham possibly going straight through Chesterfield.

When the Romans arrived in the Midlands, all who resisted were put to the sword and their villages destroyed. The conquered Celts and Britons were enslaved, used as forced labour in the massive road building programme, and were sent in as front line troops wherever the Imperial Roman Army met with native resistance. The Roman Army was always usually up of 50% regular soldiers and a 50% auxiliary force of conquered and integrated natives.

The Roman Fort of Castrafeld was built and occupied by 480 Roman soldiers between 69 AD and 117 AD.

Back in 2003, Professor John Walker, the Director of the Department of Archaeology at Manchester University, said that The name Castra-feld, which the Romans gave to this place, meant literally standing walls in a field. This suggests that when the Romans first arrived here they found pre-existing standing stone-built walls. Subsequent archeology has failed to find any trace of them

The Romans stayed in the region for more than three centuries until the great withdrawal in an attempt to save Rome from the barbarians.

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• Buxton
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• Derby Racecourse: The rich history of Derby's lost racetrack
• Headline History
• Peak District National Park
• Roman
• Tissington: Hall and FitzHerberts at the centre of village life
• Wirksworth

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County:  Derbyshire