The North gate at Melandra was a large twin entrance construction flanked by two large guard towers. A path would have wound downhill to a small bridge crossing the Glossop Brook below. The brook added extra protection to the defensive position of the fort. Years of erosion have worn away at the hill in front of the North Gate causing it to be much steeper and cliff-like than when the Romans and British Celts lived there 2000 years ago. There is evidence that the fort structure itself was slipping down the hill into the river valley as early as the late 1st century.
