Memorials of Old Yorkshire.
MEMORIALS OF THE COUNTIES OF ENGLAND
General Editor :
REV. P. H. DITCHFIELD, M.A., F.S.A., F.R.S.L., F.R.Hist.S.
MEMORIALS OF
OLD YORKSHIRE
MEMORIALS OF
OLD YORKSHIRE
EDITED BY
T. M. FALLOW, M.A., F.S.A.
Member of the Council of the Yorkshire
Archaological Society
WITH MANY ILLUSTRATIONS
LONDON
GEORGE ALLEN & SONS, RUSKIN HOUSE
RATHBONE PLACE
1909
[All Rights Reserved]
Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & Co.
At the Ballantyne Press. Edinburgh
PRBERVA11QN
TO
SIR GEORGE JOHN ARMYTAGE
OF KIRKLEES, BARONET, F.S.A., &c., &c.
PRESIDENT OF THE YORKSHIRE
ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY
THIS VOLUME
IS
DEDICATED
WITH HIS KIND PERMISSION
PREFACE
YORKSHIRE has an area almost equal to that
of Wales, and everything connected with it is on
a correspondingly big scale. Its Memorials are
inexhaustible, and it has seemed the better plan to deal
thoroughly with a few of them than to fill this volume
with scraps of all sorts of topics. Hence in the Memorials
of Old Yorkshire there is less variety than in some other
volumes of the series. No book of this size could attempt
the impossible task of covering the past history of York-
shire, or of treating its Memorials with any degree of
completeness. Certain subjects, such, for instance, as the
notable one of the monastic history of the county, are
not included in this book. This latter subject (a paper
on which has been prepared) can only be dealt with
at considerable length, and it has been decided to with-
hold it for a companion volume, where, with other
obvious omissions from the present book, it may find a
place.
The comprehensive and thorough manner in which
many subjects are handled by the writers in the pre-
sent volume, will, it is hoped, give a permanent value
to it, and render it acceptable to all lovers of the ancient
shire.
vii
viii PREFACE
The Editor desires to express his gratitude to the
authors of the various chapters, and especially to Mr.
Keyser, who is widely recognised as the chief authority
on the architectural details of Norman doorways, for the
presentation of the fine series of Plates which illustrate
the chapter he has contributed on that subject.
CONTENTS
Prehistoric Yorkshire .
Roman Yorkshire
The Forest of Ouse and Der-
went, and other Royal Forests
of Yorkshire
York and its Minster .
The Village Churches of York-
shire
The Norman Doorways of York-
shire
Yorkshire Bells and Bell-founders
The Castles of Yorkshire .
Beverley and its Minster .
Yorkshire Folk-lore .
PAGE
By GEORGE CLINCH, F.G.S.,
F.S.A. (SCOT.) . . i
By J. NORTON DICKONS . 1 1
By the Rev. J. CHARLES
Cox, LL.D., F.S.A. . 64
By the Rev. J. SOLLOWAY,
D.D.
77
By A. HAMILTON THOMP-
SON, M.A. . .106
By CHARLES E. KEYSER,
M.A., F.S.A. . . .165
By J. EYRE POPPLETON . 220
By A. HAMILTON THOMP-
SON, M.A. . . . 236
By the Rev. CANON NOL-
LOTH, D.D. . . . 265
By Miss M. W. E. FOWLER 286
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
York, N.W., showing Bootham Bar and the Minster Frontispiece
(From a photograph by the Photochrom Company, Ltd.)
PAGE, OR
FACING PAGE
Typical Pottery of the Bronze Age in Yorkshire .... 6
Trench across North-west Rampart of Inner Fort, Castleshaw . 24
(From a. photograph by Mr. W. H. Mitchell)
Roman Forts, Burwen Castle, Elslack 28
(Front apian by Mr. Thomas May }
Road over Blackstone Edge 30
(From a photograph by Mr. J. E. Booth, Littleborovgh )
Statue of Mars, York Museum 38
(By permission of Mr. Oxley Grab ham)
Tablet to Mithras, York Museum 42
(By permission of Mr. Oxley Grabham)
Interior of the Multangular Tower, York 56
The West Front of York Minster, 1809 90
Tower near Layerthorpe Bridge; Old House in Newgate . . 102
Bracket to Doorway in the Pavement, now destroyed . . 104
Door formerly in Jubbergate ; Doors formerly in the Pavement 104
Kirk Hammerton Church from North-east 114
(From a photograph by Mr. C. C. Hodges)
Appleton-le-Street Church from North-east . . . .116
(From a photograph by Mr. C. C. Hodges)
Birkin Church, the Chancel and Apse 118
(From a Photograph by Mr. C. C. Hodges)
Sketch-plan of Birkin Church 119
Kirk Hammerton Church, Chancel Arch 126
(From a photograph by Mr. C. C. Hodges)
Sketch-plan of Arksey Church 148
xii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE, OR
FACING PAGE
Sketch-plan of Campsall Church 150
Campsall Church, South-west 150
(From a photograph by Mr. C. C. Hodges)
Kirk Hammerton, South Doorway 166
Thwing, South Doorway 170
Danby Wiske, South Doorway 170
North Newbald, South Doorway . . . . . 176
Askham Bryan, South Porch 176
Thorpe Salvin, South Doorway 178
Etton, West Doorway 178
Barton-le-Street, North Doorway 182
Adel, South Doorway . . . 182
York, St. Lawrence Extra Walmgate 186
York, St. Denis Walmgate, South Doorway . . . .186
York, St. Margaret Walmgate, South Doorway . . . . 188
Alne, South Doorway 190
Healaugh, South Doorway 192
Wighill, South Doorway 192
Fishlake, South Doorway 194
Birkin, South Doorway 194
Bray ton, South Doorway 196
Riccall, South Doorway 196
Stillingfleet, South Doorway 198
Kirkburn, South Doorway 198
Kirkstall Abbey, North Doorway . . . . . 204
Old Malton Priory, West Doorway 204
Nun Monkton Priory, West Doorway 206
Sinningthwaite Priory. Doorway 206
York, St. Mary's Abbey, Chapter House. Doorway . . . 208
Kirkham Priory, Cloister Doorway 208
Selby Abbey, West Doorway 210
(All these from photographs by W. Adams &* Son and others ; kindly
lent by C. E. Keyser, Esq.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xiii
PAGE, OR
FACING PAGE
Yorkshire Bell Marks, &c 222
Yorkshire Bell Marks, &c ' . . 226
Yorkshire Bell Marks, &c . . . 230
Yorkshire Bell Marks, &c 234
Tickhill Castle (From an ancient drawing at the Record Office) 240
Richmond Castle 246
(From a photograph by G. W. Wilson &> Co., Ltd.)
Conisbrough Castle 252
(Front a photograph by G. W. Wilson &> Co., Ltd.)
Pontefract Castle (From an ancient drawing at the Record
Office) 256
Beverley Minster, Exterior, from North-west .... 266
(Prom a photograph by Mr. Charles Goulding)
Beverley Minster, Interior, looking West 274
(From a photograph by Mr. Charles GouZding)
Beverley Minster, Choir, looking North-east .... 278
(Front a photograph by Mr. Charles Goulding)
Beverley Minster, Percy Shrine 282
(From a photograph by Mr. Charles Goulding)
PREHISTORIC YORKSHIRE
BY GEORGE CLINCH, F.G.S., F.S.A. SCOT.
THE prehistoric antiquities of Yorkshire are at once
abundant and important; they comprise not only
implements, tools, weapons, and other objects in
flint, stone, bronze, and iron, but also earthworks, early
roads, megalithic monuments, and rock sculptures. There
are certain circumstances which have contributed to make
the Yorkshire discoveries specially valuable. The wild,
uncultivated condition of the moors, and, until compara-
tively recent years, of the wolds also, has tended to
preserve the ancient remains in their original state and
position. In addition to this, Yorkshire has been pecu-
liarly fortunate in having attracted the attention, not
only of numerous collectors who have gathered and pre-
served her antiquarian treasures, but also of archaeolo-
gists who have systematically and scientifically examined
the sepulchral deposits of past races, recording with pre-
cision the character, position, and relation of the various
remains.
Amongst the distinguished antiquaries whose names
are most intimately associated with this investigation
are Canon Greenwell, Mr. Thomas Boynton, and Mr.
J. R. Mortimer of Driffield. The last-named, in the course
of his long-extended researches, has opened nearly three
hundred sepulchral barrows of the Stone and Bronze
Ages, and more than sixty belonging to the Early Iron
Age.
The prehistoric archaeology of Yorkshire is far too
large a subject to be dealt with in any detail in a paper
A
2 MEMORIALS OF OLD YORKSHIRE
of this length and scope, but a few of the main charac-
teristics may be noted.
BARROWS. The barrows, or mounds erected over
sepulchral deposits, have been referred to.
In form the barrows of Yorkshire are either long or
circular; but this division, which in certain parts of the
country agrees fairly accurately with the Stone Age and
the Bronze Age respectively, does not apply equally to
all the Yorkshire barrows. The fact is, there was con-
siderable intercourse between the neolithic race and the
Bronze Age race. This is indicated in the funeral
customs and in racial characteristics.
Generally speaking, the Yorkshire barrows are bowl-
shaped and conical, the bowl-shaped examples being more
numerous than the others. Many have suffered a great
deal from farming operations which, of course, have tended
to level them. Probably many of the barrows on the
wolds had originally an encircling mound or ditch, or
both, at the base ; but generally speaking, these have been
destroyed by the plough. Several barrows at Wykeham
Moor, in the North Riding, and at Riccall and Skipwith,
in the East Riding, are furnished with a ditch round the
base, and it is believed that this method of enclosure re-
presents another version of the same idea of defence or
isolation as that shown in the circles of upright or leaning
stones round barrows in other parts of the country.
In size the barrows of the wolds vary to some extent,
the usual dimensions ranging from 15 ft. to 20 ft. in
diameter, and from I ft. to 24 ft. in height. This varia-
tion of size, however, is hardly as pronounced as that of
the barrows in other districts.
As far as materials are concerned, it has been observed
that these have always been such as could be obtained in
the immediate vicinity of the barrow, and there is reason
to believe that they were invariably obtained from the
surface of the land close by. Sometimes the chalk obtained
PREHISTORIC YORKSHIRE 3
by the digging of the grave was employed in the building
up of the barrow. The only foreign material ever noticed
by Canon Greenwell in the Yorkshire barrows was in the
form of slabs of stone used in making cists.
A very curious fact about the Yorkshire barrows is
that within the structure of the actual mound there are
occasionally enclosing circles, made in one case with flint
stones and in another case in the form of a circular trench
in the earth. These circles were found to be not quite
complete. The similarity of these broken circles, and the
incomplete circles found in association with cup and ring
markings in rocks, and also with the penannular rings of
bronze and gold and other prehistoric remains, is too
obvious to escape the attention of the archaeologists.
Canon Greenwell regards this as an attempt by the super-
stitious to enclose the spirit of the departed within the
barrow : " They were intended to prevent the exit of the
spirit of those buried within, rather than to guard against
disturbance from without. A dread of injury by the
spirits of the dead has been very commonly felt by many
savage and semi-civilised peoples ; nor, indeed, is such
fear unknown in our own times, and even in this country ;
and it may well be that, by means of this symbolic figure,
it was thought this danger might be averted and the dead
kept safe within the tomb."
A curious and interesting fact is pointed out by
Canon Greenwell. 1 It appears that the south and the
east sides of the barrows were preferred for interment,
burials rarely being found on the north and west. He
writes : " It is probable that the desire to face the sun
guided them in this, as it has other peoples. The feeling
still exists among ourselves ; for the prejudice against
burying on the north, the dark side of the churchyard,
is strong in most parts of England, and it is only where
the crowded state of the burial-ground has compelled it
1 British Barrows, p. 13.
4 MEMORIALS OF OLD YORKSHIRE
that others than unbaptized children and suicides have
been buried there. The same rule has held in ancient
times in other places. Nearly all the dolmens of Brittany
have the openings between the south and east points of
the compass ; and the avenues in the same country appear
to have a like orientation."
Another ancient custom which was in vogue when the
Yorkshire barrows were being constructed, and has come
down almost to our own times, is the throwing of flints
and potsherds upon the sepulchral mounds, evidently
with some religious or symbolic intention. The incident
mentioned by Shakespeare in Hamlet, Act v. sc. I,
" For charitable prayers,
Shards, flints, and pebbles should be thrown on her,"
will occur at once to the mind, and there is every reason
to believe that the same custom existed in very early times
in Yorkshire, where bits of broken vessels of pottery are
found in large numbers scattered throughout the barrows.
These potsherds are sometimes fragments of the ordinary
sepulchral pottery, but more frequently of vessels which,
on account of their better firing and the absence of
ornament, appear to be those of domestic utensils. Both
flints and potsherds are found distributed throughout the
whole of a mound, and in some instances in such quantities
as to suggest the idea that the persons who were engaged
in throwing up the barrow scattered them from time to time
during the process. If the fragments belonged to vessels
broken at the funeral feast, one would expect to find many
pieces belonging to the same vessel ; but this is not the
case, sometimes single fragments of at least twenty different
utensils having been found in the same sepulchral mound.
BRONZE AGE ANTIQUITIES. We may now briefly
consider some of the antiquities of Yorkshire which may
be classified with some confidence as of purely Bronze
Age origin.
PREHISTORIC YORKSHIRE 5
These comprise implements and weapons of bronze
and pottery. The former have been found singly and in
groups, or hoards. Hoards may be divided into three
main classes, namely: (a) Personal hoards, containing
the property of an individual who had buried the objects
underground for security, and, for some reason, never
recovered the treasure ; (b} merchants' hoards, the stock
of implements or weapons ready for use, and probably
carried about from place to place for sale ; and (c) founders'
hoards, consisting of broken or disused weapons, imple-
ments, &c., collected for the purpose of re-melting, and
often accompanied by moulds for the casting of fresh
implements.
The special importance of hoards, as Sir John Evans
states, arises from the fact that they show, within certain
limits, what objects are contemporary. The chief points
they prove are as follows :
(1) Flat celts and knife-daggers, such as are found
in British barrows, occur only very rarely in hoards.
(2) Flanged celts and palstaves are sometimes found
in association, but palstaves are often found with socketed
celts.
(3) Tanged implements of any kind are rarely found
with socketed specimens.
(4) Tores, or twisted collars, are more often associated
with palstaves than with socketed celts, and are mainly
confined to the western counties.
(5) Metal moulds and rough lumps of copper are gener-
ally associated with socketed celts.
These facts go to show that the flat celts and tanged
implements, generally speaking, belong to the earlier part
of the Bronze Age, whilst palstaves, socketed celts, and
socketed articles generally are of later date. Hoards,
again, are later than barrows, and metal moulds for cast-
ing bronze objects also belong to the latter part of the
period, the moulds of the earlier part having been made
of sand or clay.
6 MEMORIALS OF OLD YORKSHIRE
Vessels of pottery are amongst the most important
antiquities of the Bronze Age.
Nearly every example of Bronze Age pottery found in
England has been obtained from barrows, and the vast
majority of it was evidently specially made for sepulchral
purposes.
All the pottery of the Bronze Age was hand-made ; that
is to say, it was shaped by hand without the assistance of
the potter's wheel, and much of it is composed of inferior
clay and has been imperfectly baked. Ornament in greater
or lesser degree was usually employed on the outside of the
pottery.
Sepulchral pottery has been divided into four classes,
known as (i) food-vessels, (2) drinking-vessels, (3) cinerary
urns, and (4) incense-cups, terms, however, which must not
be taken as literally descriptive of the uses to which the
vessels were applied.
The so-called " food- vessels," of which large numbers
have been found in Yorkshire, are somewhat thick in make
and composed of coarse materials. They are found with
both burnt and unburnt burials, and in several cases
cremated human remains have been found within them.
" Drinking-cups " are smaller, taller, and more cylindrical
in form, and appear to be of somewhat earlier use, as
they are rarely, if ever, found with burnt burials. There
are several types of " drinking-cups," but generally the
lower part, or body, is somewhat globular, whilst the neck
is cylindrical or slightly funnel-shaped. Cinerary urns, as
the name implies, were intended to serve as receptacles for
the cremated remains of the body. In general shape they
somewhat resemble "drinking-cups," from which the idea
was perhaps derived, but they are of much larger size. A
broad flat rim or lip, and a more or less constricted neck
or waist, are constant features.
EARLY IRON AGE. Yorkshire ^has furnished some most
valuable remains of what is known as the Early Iron Age.
0.
3
U
H
PREHISTORIC YORKSHIRE 7
This period, or stage, of culture immediately followed the
Bronze Age, and was succeeded by the Romano-British Age,
a period when historical records and inscriptions enable us
to assign events to precise dates.
The most characteristic thing about the Early Iron
Age was, not the absence of bronze (indeed, it was very
largely used throughout the period), but the presence of
iron, especially in such weapons, tools, or implements as
required sharp edges or points, and pliability combined
with toughness, qualities which bronze lacked. Several
of the swords, for instance, whilst having iron blades, were
furnished with bronze hilts, guards, and scabbards.
Perhaps the most remarkable remains of the Early
Iron Age, found anywhere in this country, have been
procured from graves in Yorkshire.
In the] year 1897 a noteworthy sepulchral deposit,
comprising a chariot burial, was discovered at Danes
Graves, near Driffield. The discoverer was Mr. J. R.
Mortimer, who has explored hundreds of ancient burials
in the neighbourhood of Driffield. As this discovery is of
special importance, a few details may be given.
The remains comprised the iron hoops of the wheels
and naves, and rings of bronze and iron belonging to the
chariot and the horse trappings, together with two adult
skeletons, probably the remains of the owner of the chariot
and his charioteer.
The occurrence of two human skeletons in one grave
is a circumstance of the highest significance. It probably
implies human sacrifice. The intention of chariot burial
was clearly to make provision for the dead chieftain in
a future state of existence. Chariot, harness, trappings,
charioteer, in some cases a pair of horses, and trophies of
the chase, such as wild boars and other animals, were
buried with the body of the dead chief in order to minister
to his needs in the next world.
An interesting feature in this burial at Danes Graves
was the presence of remains of the wild boar. Some
8 MEMORIALS OF OLD YORKSHIRE
antiquaries think (and there is much to support the
opinion) that religious or superstitious beliefs were con-
nected with this animal. A curiously grotesque figure of
the boar appears on the fine shield found in the river
Witham in Lincolnshire. Another one of iron, with bronze
eyes, occurred on the celebrated iron helmet found in the
Benty Grange barrow, Derbyshire. Three quaint little
bronze figures of boars, evidently belonging to the Early
Iron Age, were discovered at Hounslow, Middlesex. These
facts, taken in connection with the frequent presence of
the actual bones of the boar with the chariot burials,
certainly point to the conclusion that the animal was held
in high estimation by the people of this early period. It is,
of course, possible that the actual remains of the animals
in graves may indicate that food in this form was provided
for the buried warrior, but such an explanation does not
elucidate the figures represented in metal on the shield and
helmet referred to.
It is worthy of note, too, that the horse, which in some
cases was certainly buried with the chariot and the warrior,
was another animal held in considerable esteem, if indeed
not more than esteem, by the Early Iron Age people.
Hillside figures of the horse, represented in gigantic pro-
portions so as to be seen from great distances, occur in
different parts of England, and, judging from the well-
known example at Uffington, Berkshire, they may be safely
referred to a pre-Roman period. It seems probable that
both the boar and the horse were treated with special
veneration or esteem, if not worship.
It is worthy of note that the Witham boar and the
Uffington white horse are both treated in a conventional
manner ; this is especially seen in the attenuated body and
the grotesquely shaped head.
Remains of other Yorkshire chariot burials have been
discovered at Haywold, near Huggate, but unfortunately
no care was taken to secure the remains ; and also in
1888, during the construction of the Driffield and Market
PREHISTORIC YORKSHIRE 9
Weighton Railway, in a deep cutting between Middleton
and Enthorpe stations. An ornamental pin or butt, of the
kind often called linch-pins, was secured from the latter
interment and is now in the possession of Mr. J. R.
Mortimer.
A chariot burial was found at Pickering, in the North
Riding, in or about the year 1849. Curiously enough,
although the general form of the chariot, the tires of the
wheels, and even traces of the pole (7 ft. in length) were
found in an entirely undisturbed condition, no bones or
other trace of human or animal interment were found, and
it has been suggested, with considerable probability, that
the actual grave still remains unexplored.
The special honour given to particular animals is well
shown in the sepulchral mounds of other districts besides
Yorkshire. In the barrows of the north of Staffordshire
remains were found which pointed to the careful interment
of the heads of oxen. In the remarkable barrow at
Swinscoe, called Top Low, the skeleton of a young hog
was buried in a separate place and enclosed in a stone
cist specially constructed to receive it.
In some cases beautifully enamelled bridle-bits of bronze,
as well as articles for personal ornamentation, have been
found with Early Iron Age interments. A splendid example
of a horse-bit, ornamented with enamel, was found at Rise,
near Hull, and is now in the national collection at the
British Museum. Another example, but less ornate and
unadorned with enamel, was found in a barrow at Arras,
near Market Weighton, many years ago.
The barrows at Arras and Hessleskew have furnished
other remarkable examples of skilful and tasteful work-
manship. Glass beads with various ornamental features,
and brooches and pendant ornaments encrusted with slices
of coral, are amongst the many beautiful relics taken from
these graves.
Stanwick, in the North Riding, has furnished a large
number of metal objects, some for personal decoration,
io MEMORIALS OF OLD YORKSHIRE
including an S-shaped and enamelled ibrooch, and several
fittings for the chariot and horse-harness.
From what has been shown in this brief article it will
be generally admitted that the impression produced by a
study of the prehistoric monuments and remains of York-
shire is one of surprise that, at such a remote period, the
arts of civilisation had reached a decidedly advanced stage.
The skill involved in making the fine bronze-castings of the
Bronze Age, and the splendid enamels of the Late Celtic
period, was of a very high order. It will be noted that in
both these arts the most remarkable amount of skill was
expended upon objects of ornamental rather than utilitarian
character.
One understands the savage exercising and developing
his utmost powers in producing a specially useful fish-
hook or arrow, or a trenchant and well-balanced sword.
These were essential for procuring food, and for successful
conflict with foes. One understands the skilful efforts of
the mediaeval castle-builder, who constructed his stronghold
with curious ingenuity in the matter of choice of situation,
selection of material, planning and elevation, so as to with-
stand unwelcome visitors or treacherous intruders. But in
the prehistoric achievements of the men of Yorkshire we
find an extremely advanced state of proficiency in the pro-
duction of partially or purely ornamental objects.
It is a peculiarly interesting fact that a county so large,
so wealthy, so cultivated, and so rich in intellectual endow-
ments as Yorkshire unquestionably is, should have shown
so early a skill in the metallurgical arts, and an inclination
towards refinement, which at the present time comprise at
least two elements of the county's greatness.
ROMA.N YORKSHIRE
BY J. NORTON DICKONS
IT is not intended in this paper to relate in detail the
history of the Roman conquest of Yorkshire, but
rather to point out some memorials of the Roman
occupation still to be found in modern Yorkshire, a
county which Professor Haverfield described as one of
extraordinary interest, and perhaps the most interesting
county in England for its Roman remains.
At the time of the Roman invasion, Yorkshire formed
part of the district lying between the Humber, the Mersey,
and the present border of Scotland, occupied by the fierce
and warlike confederation of tribes known by the name
of " Brigantes."
The county was difficult of access, and only sparsely
populated. The great central plain of York, lying between
the eastern wolds and the hills and dales of the western
and north-eastern moors, and extending to the borders
of Derbyshire, was a huge woodland waste, extending to
the Walls of York. The district around Leeds, after-
wards known as the Saxon kingdom of Elmete, was a
vast forest stretching to the head waters of the rivers
on the west and filling all the valley bottoms with a
dense scrub. The south-eastern portion of the county,
into which the Don, Idle, and Trent poured their un-
regulated waters, was an impassable morass, along the
western side of which ran a line of British entrench-
ments (still to be traced) from Wincobank to Mexbrough.
The western moors and dales on the slopes of Blackstone
Edge and Stanedge, forming the boundary between the
i2 MEMORIALS OF OLD YORKSHIRE
present Yorkshire and Lancashire, were so bleak and
desolate that they were in after ages known as " Desert."
Here and there on the banks of the rivers were settle-
ments of the inhabitants, communicating with each other
by narrow and devious tracks. The bulk of the popula-
tion was not, as now, gathered in the West Riding, but
was settled on the eastern wolds, where the streams
break out and run into the valleys below.
The period when the Romans first appeared in York-
shire cannot be accurately determined. The better opinion
seems to be that the real conqueror was Petilius Cerialis,
the Imperial Legate (A.D. 71-75), who, advancing from
Lincoln across the Humber, " struck terror into the enemy
by an attack upon the Brigantes, who were reputed to
compose the most populous state in the whole province.
Many battles were fought, some of them attended by much
bloodshed, and the greater part of the Brigantes were
either brought into subjection or involved in the ravages
of war." l
But the work of completing the conquest of the
Brigantes and of consolidating the Roman power was
done by C. Julius Agricola, Imperial Legate A.D. 78-84,
who, as we are informed by his son-in-law, Tacitus, in-
structed the conquered tribes in the art of building houses,
temples, and places of public resort, and taught the sons
of their chiefs the liberal sciences, and the Roman language,
customs, and manners. But there is another side of this
picture of Romanisation. ..." The Romans indeed felled
forests, laid out roads, embanked rivers, and constructed
causeways ; but the real work fell upon the ill-clad and
half-starved Britons who groaned under the burden of
felling trees, opening quarries, and carrying stones, and
complained that their lives were worn out in the service
of their rigorous taskmasters."
No lapidary inscription in Yorkshire referring to
1 Tacitus, Agricola, ch. xvii.
ROMAN YORKSHIRE 13
Agricola has been found, but from the list 01 Brigantian
towns preserved to us in the Geography of C. Ptolemy
(circa A.D. 138) we may assume that Agricola selected the
most suitable British sites, such as are now represented
by York, Malton, Ilkley, and Aldborough for Roman
stations.
The Romans have left us few notices of the internal
affairs of Britain, and for many years subsequent to the
departure of Agricola, Britain is scarcely noticed by his-
torians until the arrival of the Emperor Hadrian in
person (A.D. 120), and from that period to the final de-
parture of the Romans, the lapidary and literary notices
of their occupation are few and far between, notwith-
standing that Eboracum (York) was not only the chief
seat of civil government, but the headquarters of the
Roman military power for the greater part of three
hundred years.
Unlike the southern and eastern parts of Britain, the
Caledonian and Welsh tribes were never thoroughly sub-
dued, and were always more or less in a chronic state
of feud; indeed we read of a rebellion of the Brigantes
so late as the reign of Antoninus Pius (A.D. 138-161).
To keep the northern tribes in check, and to protect the
lowlands from invasion, the Emperor Hadrian constructed
the great mural fortification extending from the Tyne to
the Solway and commonly known as "the Wall." The
disposition of the Roman forces in Britain, at all events
after the reign of Hadrian, was wholly with a view to
the defence of the northern and western frontiers. " The
Wall" was defended by numerous bodies of Auxiliaries,
but the Legionaries were placed in the rear at York and
Chester (Deva).
To facilitate the movements of the troops from the
south to " the Wall," the Romans constructed three prin-
cipal lines of roads (the modern railways of the east and
west coasts and Midland lines follow in the main the
directions of these roads). The western line was the
14 MEMORIALS OF OLD YORKSHIRE
famous road known as "Watling Street," running from
Richborough (Ritupse) across England to Chester and
thence by Aldborough (Isurium) to Carlisle and the Wall.
The eastern line was the western branch of the road
commonly called "The Ermine Street," from Lincoln
(Lindum) to York by way of Doncaster (Danum). A
third legionary road led from Lincoln to Winteringham,
and crossing the Humber to Brough, proceeded by an
ancient British way to Malton and thence to the Wall,
throwing off a branch to York by Kexby at Stamford
Bridge ; but all the military forces for the Wall (at all
events after the rise of York) passed along the road
from Isurium (Aldborough) to Catarractonium, where the
road divided, one branch proceeding by Lavatrae (Bowes)
to the western, and the other by Pierce Bridge to the
eastern part of the Wall.
THE ROADS. Perhaps the most enduring monuments
of Roman occupation are the Roman roads. They have
in some instances been continued as public roads, or
incorporated with modern turnpikes. The road from Castle-
ford to Aberford is an example of the former ; and the road
from Aldborough to Catterick, called Leeming Lane, of the
other. Many of the roads mentioned by Horsley, Drake,
Stukeley, and Whitaker have ceased to exist, and with the
exception of the road over Blackstone Edge and of the
road between Barnsdale Bars and Bodies, near Doncaster,
it may be safely asserted that little of the Roman roads
not incorporated with public roads now remains.
Several degrees or kinds of roads appear to have been
made. There were first the great military (legionary)
thoroughfares, such as Watling Street and the Ermine
Road, forming direct communication between Ritupae and
the Wall. Then there were subsidiary military ways which
are not always mentioned in the Itinerary, such as the
road over Blackstone Edge, between Manchester and Ilkley.
Also cross or vicinal ways between various stations, branch
ROMAN YORKSHIRE 15
roads, private roads, county roads, and bye-roads (device).
The cross roads were lines of communication between
the legionary ways, and generally the shortest line that
could be drawn. It has been suggested that some of these
cross ways and vicinal branches were not intended for
military, but for commercial purposes, inasmuch as they
were not constructed in so durable a manner as the prin-
cipal ways, and for that reason have been more generally
ruined and lost, yet they were often sufficiently good to
leave distinct traces down to the present time.
There are few Roman roads existing which do not in
some way or other vary from the description of a road
given by Vitruvius ; l some are entirely without the nucleus,
in others there was no statumen. Probably the legionary
ways and some of the more important subsidiary ways were
constructed on the lines laid down by Vitruvius, but others
were not paved, but constructed of gravel or other local
material strengthened by cobbles and small stones. York-
shire possesses specimens of both kinds of roads, and
perhaps the most perfect specimen of a paved Roman road
in England is to be found on the road hereinafter described
(from Aldborough to Manchester over Blackstone Edge), and
the finest specimen of an unpaved road is near Adwick le
Street, where one of the most conspicuous and best existing
remains of a Roman road in Yorkshire is to found.
On all the great Roman roads the distances were
marked out with the greatest care, and at the end of each
" mille passus," or Roman mile, was erected a miliary
column, or milestone (milliarium), with an inscription, in-
dicating the distance from the last town. These milestones
usually consisted of a large plain cylinder of stone raised
on a base ; the inscription (probably in red lettering) stated
the name of the emperor under whose reign it was erected.
Very few of these milestones have been preserved, and
fewer still are to be found in situ.
1 Wright, The Celt, Roman, and Saxon, ?th edit., p. 221, has fully
described the construction of a Roman road.
16 MEMORIALS OF OLD YORKSHIRE
Three have been found in Yorkshire ; one bearing the
names of the joint Emperors Callus and Volusianus (circa
A.D. 253) was found by the side of the Roman road near
the George Inn at Greta, inscribed " To the Emperors, our
Lords Gallus and Volusianus (A.D. 25 1-3)." *
Another milestone, a block of sandstone about 5 feet
long and 10 inches in diameter, was found at Castleford
in 1880 close to the Roman road and at a depth of 3
feet. It was erected in the reign of the Emperor Decius
(A.D. 249), and (a) inscribed to him, and after his death
appears to have been inverted and an inscription (b} to his
successors, the joint Emperors Gallus and Volusianus, cut
on the other end. In September 1897 Professor Haverfield
purchased the stone and presented it to the Leeds Museum.
The inscriptions are given by him as follows :
(a) Imp(eratore), C(esare), C. M(essio), Q(uinto), Decio
p(io), f(elici), Aug(usto), et C. M(essio), Q(uinto, Etru[s]co.
(b) Imp(eratoribus), C(aesaribus), C. Vibio Gallo et C.
V(ibio), Volusiano p(iis), f(elicibus), Aug(ustis), Eb(uraco),
m(illia), p(assuum) XX.
Mr. Haverfield in his paper 2 says :
' ' The indication of distance from York is interesting. By the line of
the Roman road through Tadcaster to Aberford, the distance from York to
Castleford is about twenty English miles. The Itinerary gives twenty-one
Roman miles. The Roman mile was a trifle shorter than the English mile,
so that the agreement is fairly close. It will be even closer \ r we assume
that our milestone was the twenty-second, and that the twenty-first mile-
stone stood half a mile north of Castleford ' station ' just as this stands half a
mile south. In that case, the actual distance from York to Castleford would
have been, by the Roman road, twenty-one and a half Roman miles."
A third milestone is preserved in the old Manor House
at Aldborough. The inscription runs : " To the Emperor
Caesar Caius Messius Quintus Trajanus Decius, the good,
happy, and great ; from C twenty miles." The blank
after C has been proposed to be filled up by Calcaria
1 Cough's Camden, vol. ii. p. 339.
2 " The Roman Milestone found at Castleford."
ROMAN YORKSHIRE 17
(Tadcaster), or Cattaractonium (Catterick). Decius was
slain in battle A.D. 251.
Yorkshire is covered by a network of Roman roads,
many of which can still be traced. Three at least of the
legionary roads crossed Yorkshire, and it is necessary to
give some account of them. Our chief authorities for these
military routes are the Itinerary of Antoninus for the earlier
period of the Roman conquest, and the Notitia for the
period immediately preceding the final abandonment of
Britain by the Romans. 1
The Itinerary omits certain stations, such as Greta
Bridge and Pierce Bridge, and omits to notice several roads,
such as the one over Blackstone Edge, and Wade's Cause-
way over the moors between Malton and Sandsend. Some
places are called by different names and the distances
between stations do not agree with the actual distances,
but, making allowances for omissions and for probable
errors in transcriptions, it is our best authority for the
direction of the roads and the sites of the stations of the
Romans.
The principal roads passing through Yorkshire are the
first, second, and fifth Iters. Although in the majority of
cases the Roman roads centred in York, it is somewhat
remarkable how the legionary roads in the early times
seem to have avoided York.
THE FIRST ITER. Taking the Itineraries so far as
they relate to Yorkshire in the order in which they appear,
the first Iter is entitled " From the limit (i.e. the Roman
Wall) to the Pnetorium 156 miles." 2
1 The Itinerary is a sort of working road-book compiled circa A.D. 138-
140 (some authorities place the date much later), and contains a list of
the chief military roads with the names of the several stations thereon, and
an approximate measurement of the distances between each station. The
Notitia was a sort of military return of the troops stationed in Britain
shortly before the withdrawal of the Romans. It is valuable as giving the
disposition of the Roman auxiliaries in Britain.
2 The sum of the distances usually given is 150 M.P., but it does not
agree with the total of the miles at the head of the Iter.
B
i8 MEMORIALS OF OLD YORKSHIRE
The Iter enters Yorkshire at Pierce Bridge on the Tees,
where it crossed the river by a ford. No station at Pierce
Bridge is named in the Itinerary, but from the Notitia
we find that shortly before the Romans finally abandoned
England, a detachment of " Pacenses " was stationed at
Pierce Bridge. Various antiquities have been found on
the site, and in particular a Roman bronze 1 representing
a plough of primitive construction, drawn by oxen ; the
figure of the ploughman probably gives a correct picture of
the costume of a Roman-British peasant. The Iter after
crossing the river continued in a straight line to a place
now called Scotch Corner, where the western branch of
Watling Street from Carlisle, forming the second Iter, fell
into the road, and the joint Itinera proceeded to Catterick.
For the greater portion of the distance the Roman and
modern roads coincide, though the stones have been nearly
all taken to mend the modern road. 2
The next station on the Iter was Catarractonium (Catte-
rick), mentioned by Ptolemy as one of the towns of the
Brigantes. The site of the station has been ascertained
to be Thornborough, about half a mile west of Catterick
Bridge, where a portion of a wall about 90 yards long and
5 feet high has been cleared and partly rebuilt (for the sake
of preservation). Recent excavations have shown that the
station was a walled camp like that at York, about 240 by
175 yards, and included a site of about 9 acres. Within
or near this enclosure, various sculptured stones have been
found, but there does not seem to be any foundation for the
statement attributed to Bede that the Romans had a mint
at Catarractonium or in fact at any place in Yorkshire,
though moulds for forging coins have been found. The
Roman road from Catterick to Aldborough does not coin-
cide altogether with the modern road, but follows in the
main the line of Leeming Lane, no part of it being more
1 Figured in Wright's The Celt, Roman, and Saxon, 5th edit., p. 256.
2 Archaeological Journal, vol. vi. p. 217.
ROMAN YORKSHIRE 19
than a mile away from a straight line. 1 From Aldborough
the road went to York, but is now lost. From York the
first Iter is said to have proceeded to " Derventione Delgo-
vitia et Praetoria." The sites of these places are lost.
Much learned ingenuity has been expended in discussions
thereon, but all we can say with Horsley is that " the
first station, Derventio, must have been somewhere on the
Derwent." Praetorium has been placed at Whitby, Dunsley,
Bridlington, Patrington, and Brough Ferry on the Humber,
and by Horsley at Ebberstow in Lincolnshire. A road
has been traced to Stamford Bridge, climbing the wolds
at Garrowby Street, and through Fimber and Sledmere
in the direction of Filey, and another road in the direc-
tion of Bridlington (a candidate for the " Gabrantvicorum
Sinus," the " well-havened bay" of Ptolemy), leaving the
former road near Fridaythorp, and pointing to Rudstone,
where a Roman pavement has been found. If the latter
route is the first Iter, then Stamford Bridge is Derventio
and Bridlington Praetorium. On the strength of a sup-
posed Roman inscription, Filey has been claimed to
be Praetorium, but there seems no solid foundation for
the claim, though Roman remains have been found
there. 2
The weight of authority is in favour of Brough on
the Humber being Praetorium, and some authorities have
also placed the Petuaria of Ptolemy there. Roman re-
mains have been found at Brough opposite to Wintering-
ham, where the great Roman road, Ermine Street, from
Lincoln vid Broughton (Ebberstow) descended to cross
the Humber on its way to York. During the remarkably
dry summer of 1826, when the Humber was very low,
the remains of raised causeways or jetties stretching out
into the river, from both Winteringham and Brough, similar
1 Codrington, 2nd edit., p. 174.
2 See Remarks on the Discovery of Roman and British Remains at Filey.
By W. S. Cortis, 1858.
20 MEMORIALS OF OLD YORKSHIRE
to the one in the Trent at Littleborough and apparently
of Roman construction, were discovered. 1
There are traces of two routes from Brough : one vid
South Cave and Drewton (where the road has been dug
up), Goodmanham, Londesbrough Park, Warter, Millington,
to Garrowby Road and thence to Malton ; and the other
running from the first near Market Weighton, by Thorp
le Street, Barmby Moor (where in 1892 a road fifteen feet
wide was found a foot below the surface), Kexby Bridge,
Scoresby, and Heslington, to York. Roman remains have
been found at each of the places named.
THE SECOND ITER. The second Iter both begins
and ends with a boundary, and is best known by its
mediaeval name of Watling Street. Whether Watling
Street in its origin is a British or a Roman road is not
easy to determine ; the better opinion seems to be that it
is a continuation of the old Roman road, which the Anglo-
Saxons adopted and kept in repair. Watling Street
crosses and re-crosses the kingdom, and represents the
old zigzag route from Kent to Chester, Manchester, York,
and Newcastle, with a branch from Catterick to Carlisle.
The term " Watling Street " is misapplied to other roads
than the above, e.g. to the Roman road from Ilkley to
York.
This Iter entered Yorkshire at Rey Cross where there
is a large camp, probably British in its origin and adopted
by the Romans, which General Roy thinks was at one
time occupied by the sixth legion. Part of the rampart
has subsided into the peat, and part has been injured by
excavations, but it still remains in size the third largest
Roman camp in the Yorkshire district.
The first station in Yorkshire was Lavatrae (Bowes).
The remains of the camp can be readily found, as the
castle and the church of Bowes stand on the north part
1 Archdeacon Trollope's paper on " The Ermine Street or Old Roman
Road." 1868.
ROMAN YORKSHIRE 21
near its western boundary. The area of the camp is about
130 by 140 yards, and its ditches may be traced to the
north and west and partly to the east. The Roman
occupation is testified by the remains of a bath at the
south-east angle, and by numerous inscriptions and altars
found here. Camden records one to the honour of the
Emperor Hadrian, and another by the propraetor or
governor of Britain, Virius Lupus, commemorating the
repair of a bath for the first Thracian cohort in the
time of ,the Emperor Severus. The bath had been de-
stroyed by fire.
The next camp on the road was at Greta Bridge,
where, on a tongue of land between the Greta and the
Tutta Beck, is a small square camp triple trenched, en-
closing about five acres. The George Inn at Greta Bridge
stands on one side of it. Greta is not mentioned in the
Itinerary, from which circumstance it is inferred to be
of late Roman work. Numerous inscriptions have been
found in the vicinity of Greta ; one, an altar (found on
the banks of the river in 1702), appears to have been
a votive offering of two females dedicated to a nymph
" Elaune." From Greta Bridge the road went over
Gatherly Moor and fell into the first Iter at Scotch
Corner. It coincides, with a few slight deviations, with
the modern road.
From Scotch Corner to York the route of the first
and second Itinera is the same. The second Iter passed
out of York, and, crossing the river Ouse by a bridge
near the present Guildhall, proceeded by way of Mickle-
gate Bar to Tadcaster. The road for some distance passed
through the suburbs of York, and forms the present high-
way from Dringhouses to Streethouses. The line of road
can be distinctly traced to Tadcaster, which is no doubt
the ancient " Calcaria," though some authorities persist in
placing it as St. Helen's Ford near Newton Kyme. At
Tadcaster the road crossed the Wharfe, and ran in the
direction of Hazlewood, where near Bramham it is still
22 MEMORIALS OF OLD YORKSHIRE
conspicuous in the fields, and known as " the Roman
Ridge." The road continued to Aberford, and thence to
a station called " Cambodunum."
No portion of the Iter has given rise to more discussion
than the position of Cambodunum. The difficulties are
twofold : first, where was Cambodunum ? second, which
way did the Iter take between Calcaria and Cambodunum ?
With regard to the first difficulty, the shortest distance
between Tadcaster and Manchester is fifty-eight computed
English miles, whereas the numbers given in the Itinerary
are only thirty-eight Roman miles. The most reasonable
conclusion is that some intermediate station, probably
Legolium (Castleford), has been omitted by the transcriber
from the Itinerary.
Cambodunum has been fixed at a variety of places, but
the result of the various excavations made from time to
time is to fix the station at Slack. The position of Slack
is high and bleak, but sheltered to some extent by a high
ridge north and south. A sloping piece of ground of about
twelve acres is divided into enclosures, formerly called the
" eald " or " old fields," and here an altar to Fortune was
found. Several hypocausts have been discovered at Slack,
and in 1866 the site was explored by the Yorkshire Archaeo-
logical and Topographical Society, who published an account
of the examination in the first volume of their Journal.
On the strength of certain inscriptions on tiles found
here, "Coh. IIII. Bre," it has been assumed that a cohort
of the Breuci was stationed at Slack. 1 Tile-stamps of
both the Sixth and Ninth Legions have been found at
Slack.
In 1597, not far from Slack, at a place called Thick
Hollins, an altar (afterwards deposited in the library of
Trinity College, Cambridge) was found. Antiquaries have
differed as to the exact reading of the inscription, but the
following translation is the one adopted by Horsley:
1 The Breuci are also mentioned on inscriptions found at High Rochester,
Lapidarium Septentrionale, p. 290, and at Castlesteads.
ROMAN YORKSHIRE 23
" Dedicated to the God of the States of the Brigantes, and
to the deities of the Emperor by Titus Amelius Aurelianus
on behalf of himself and his. This duty with gratitude
and pleasure he discharges." The inscription on the side
indicates that it was set up A.D. 208, when Caracalla was
third time Consul, and Geta the second. 1
Another scarcely less vexed question is what was the
line of road taken from Calcaria to Cambodunum. In the
present state of our knowledge it is impossible to say.
Several writers have maintained it went by Leeds and
Cleckheaton, but the most probable opinion seems to be
the plain statement of Drake 2 that the road from Cambo-
dunum left the fifth and eighth Itinera near Aberford, and
he says " this way may yet be traced, but it is not very
visible." From Slack to Mancunium the direction of the
road. was traced in Whitaker's time over Holestone Moor
and Slaithwaite Hill to Castleshaw, and on to Manchester,
but the traces are now few and indistinct.
A double camp or fort has been known to exist at
Castleshaw since 175 1, when Mr. Percival saw and described
it. 3 It is now the property of Mr. W. Andrew and Major
Lees and is being excavated by them (1908-9). The fort
lies on a bleak and exposed situation near Diggle railway
station, overlooking the Oldham reservoirs, and commanded
the Roman road from Manchester to Aldborough over
Stanedge.
The camp is rectangular, about 120 yards by no, and
encloses two forts one within the other. The outer fort
covers about three acres and the inner one about five-
eighths of an acre. Which of the two forts is the earlier
has not yet been ascertained. Probably the smaller fort was
1 See the note on " Some Roman Inscriptions in Britain," by Dr. Haver-
field, Arch. Jour., vol. xlix. p. 192, as to the words : " Dea Victoria Brigant "
inscribed on this altar. Dr. Haverfield notes an altar, dated probably
circa A.D. 203, found at Castlesteads, dedicated to the "Deae Nymphae
Brig."
2 Eboracum, p. 19.
8 Philosophical Transactions, vol. xlvii. p. 216.
24 MEMORIALS OF OLD YORKSHIRE
erected by Agricola to protect the road from Manchester to
Aldborough. Both forts were protected by a turf rampart
and by fosses. The turf rampart of the inner fort has a
stone foundation 12 feet wide. The turf wall has been
removed in the course of excavation, but a photograph
of a section of the north-west rampart of the inner fort
shows the layers of piled sods before removal. The south-
west rampart of the wall of the larger camp was also of
piled sods, while the north-west rampart is of clay. In
both cases the fosse was in places cut through the solid
rock. Five entrances to the forts have been excavated.
" In all cases there are indications of post-holes, in some
cases set round with stones and containing fragments of
wood and iron staples." l A hypocaust in good preserva-
tion was found in the inner camp, but has been much
injured by careless visitors. The only tile-stamp so far
discovered is the one, " Coh. iiii Bre," also found at Slack
and Manchester.
THE FIFTH ITER. The third and fourth Itinera do
not touch Yorkshire, but the fifth Iter traversed the county
from south to north. It is entitled from "Londinium
(London) to Luguvallium (Carlisle)." The route ran
through Carlisle to Lincoln. The Yorkshire stations were
Littleborough, Doncaster, Castleford, York, Aldborough,
Catterick, and Bowes. This Iter is the mediaeval " Ermine
Street," which originally ran from London to Lincoln.
From Lincoln two routes ran to the north, one, the military
road to Winteringham, and the other, locally known as
" Tillbridge Lane," diverged from the original Ermine Street
about five miles from Lincoln, and crossed the Trent at
Littleborough (Segelocum) between Lindum (Lincoln) and
Danum (Doncaster). The latter road from Doncaster to
York seems to have been constructed at a later date than
the road to Winteringham, and was probably laid out after
1 Excavations of the Roman Forts at Castleshaw, First Interim Report,
by F. A. Bruton, 1908, p. 20.
ROMAN YORKSHIRE 25
York became the seat of government to avoid the dangerous
ferry across the H umber from Winteringham. The Roman
Military, now in the cloisters at Lincoln and dedicated to
Victorinus (circa A.D. 265), is supposed to give the dis-
tance fourteen miles (M.P.) to Segelocum the first station.
Remains of the Roman road may be traced near Little-
borough. It crossed the Trent by a. ford, and its descent
to the river was entire on each side in the last century.
The bank was purposely cut away and sloped, and a
causeway 1 8 feet wide, held up by strong piles and paved
with rough square stones, was raised in the bed of the
river. It probably dated from the time of Hadrian, and
remained entire until 1820, when it was destroyed under
the pretence that when the river was low it impeded the
navigation. 1 Some traces of the wall and fosse surrounding
the station still remain, and the camp has been very prolific
of coins.
The line of way from Littleborough to Doncaster seems
to have been a raised causeway of gravel and is now lost.
Horsley could not trace anything certain, and few remains
have been found at Doncaster, although in late Roman
times it was the headquarters of the prefect of the " Equi-
tatus Crispianorum." Between Doncaster and Wentbridge
the Roman road or "rig," as it is locally called, is still
conspicuous. In Ogelby's Book of Roads, 1698 (Plate No. 7),
it appears under the name of " Ye street way," as the post
road between Doncaster and Pontefract. The present high-
way north of Doncaster for a mile and a half is on the line
of the Roman road, from which it diverges at Bodies, near
Doncaster, while the Roman road continues in a straight
line, for a distance of about three miles, as a green lane
from 15 to 1 8 feet wide; and raised considerably above
the level of the adjoining fields, which obtain access to
it by means of steep ramps of earth. North of Wood-
lands the ridge is very perfect, being from 6 to 8 feet
1 " Roman Nottinghamshire," by W. T. Walker: Arch&ological Journal,
vol. xliii. p. 3.
26 MEMORIALS OP OLD YORKSHIRE
high, and continues much the same for some distance until
it again falls into the modern road near Red House,
forming part of the highway to Barnsdale Bar, where it
diverges, and a fine section of it, raised a considerable
height, is to be seen crossing the fields and passing through
a plantation on the left of the road. The road (as noticed
by Horsley in 1732) is not paved, but appears "to consist
of earth and gravel without much stone or any certain
appearance of a regular pavement." l
Near Barnsdale Bar the turnpike road again diverges
from the Roman road, which can be seen running alongside
the highway for some distance, until it again falls into the
modern road, and so continues to Wentbridge. 2 The road
between Wentbridge and Castleford has long since disap-
peared, the pavement where it crossed Pontefract Park
being dug up many years ago by the farmers, who com-
plained that it broke their ploughs when ploughing.
The road crossed the Aire at Castleford by a ford near
the east side of the church, which stands on the site of the
camp. The paved road was visible when Stukeley visited
the district, but all traces of the camp and paved road have
now disappeared, though coins are dug up from time to
time. In 1890 an altar of gritty sandstone (now in the
Leeds Museum) was dug up from the river Calder, near
1 The road is intersected near Woodlands by the modern road from
Adwick to Brodsworth, and at no other place in Yorkshire can the contrast
between ancient and modern works be so well observed. Close to the place
where the roads intersect each other is the newly (1907) sunk pit (580 yards
deep) of the Brodsworth Colliery, from which 2000 tons of coal are being
daily raised (to be increased ultimately to 6000 tons). On the other side
of the Roman road, and abutting upon it, is the Woodlands " Garden village,"
created by the Colliery Company, and covering many acres of ground. The
Roman road is being gradually cut away by railway sidings and new roads,
and the portion between the colliery and Doncaster is returning to its old use
of the most direct, though not the most level, road to Doncaster.
2 " We left Doncaster and crossed three stone bridges which are over
the river Don. . . . There are causeways on both sides of the road. . . .
At the end of this causeway (on the left) appears plainly the Roman way,
which continues in the present road for many miles together. It is raised
considerably from the common level of the grounds, and in some parts of it
the coach drives along the very ridge." Lord Harley's Journeys in Eng-
land, 1723 : H.M.C. Duke of Portland's Papers, vol. vi. p. 90.
ROMAN YORKSHIRE 27
Castleford, inscribed : " DEAE VIC : TORIAE : BRIGANT. A.D.
AVRS ENoPIANU . ." The altar may probably date as early
as 205. After leaving Castleford the road becomes large
and conspicuous, and runs in a straight line for eight or
nine miles to Aberford. In 1741 Horsley saw it, and
says : " From Aberford to Tadcaster the road is very
conspicuous, being in some parts 6, 8, and even 9 feet
high, but seems to consist mostly of earth, with little or no
regular pavement appearing." The road is incorporated
for the greater part of the distance with the modern road,
and is about 20 yards between the fences. The ridge
upon which it runs is now about 8 yards wide, and as
much as 5 feet above the adjoining ground, to which
raised ramps give access. From Aberford, the ridge runs
in a straight line to within a mile of Hazlewood School,
where it leaves the present road, and runs across the fields
to Tadcaster road, which it follows for some little distance,
and then turns to the north in the direction of St. Helen's
Ford. The road is visible in the enclosures near Hazle-
wood, and is about 4 feet high with a rounded top about
5 yards wide (in one place used as a garden to some
cottages), and appears to consist of pebbles and gravel,
marl, clay, and loose cobble stones which may be remains
of paving. Drake l says in his time, the road was in many
places exceedingly perfect, and "in his travels he never
saw so noble and perfect a Roman road as this."
Ermine Street does not appear originally to have gone
on to York, but to have crossed the Wharfe at St. Helen's
Ford, and thence on by Whixley to Aldborough by the road
called " Rudgate," or Roadgate, which begins on the north
side of the Nidd. When York rose to importance on the
decline of Aldborough, a branch road was constructed from
Ermine Street, via Calcaria (Tadcaster), which is traceable
to York. 2
1 Eboracutn, p. 19, where there is a view of the " Rig."
2 A short distance below Tadcaster the little river Cock enters the Wharfe,
and a few yards from the confluence the small stream is crossed by a
28 MEMORIALS OF OLD YORKSHIRE
In connection with the fifth Iter, another Roman road
leads from Tadcaster to Ilkley, and thence to Elslack and
Ribchester. 1 It can still be traced in places between
Bramhope and Adel (the supposed Burgodunum), where
are remains of a camp, and where many Roman remains
have been found, some of which are preserved at the little
museum near Adel church. From Adel the road can be
traced to Carlton and Ilkley. The road ran from Ilkley to
Skipton and Ribchester. A few traces of it are to be seen
between Ilkley and Addingham High Moor, where the ridge
becomes very distinct, and so continues over Draughton
Slade and through Howgill and Edge Plantations. The
road descends into Skipton by Short Bank Road, and thence
to Elslack. The road is marked on Jeffrey's map, 17/0, as
part of the coach road from Kendal to London, and was
so used until 1821, when it was closed by order of Quarter
Sessions as unnecessary. It is still used as a footpath.
On the line of this road, recent (1907-9) excavations 2 at
" Burwens " in Elslack have disclosed the outlines of a camp
of about 5^ acres in extent. It is intersected by the Mid-
land Railway from Skipton to Colne. The excavations
prove the existence of two forts, an earlier one, dating
probably from first century, with a rampart of clay resting
upon a foundation 16 feet wide of cobbles set in clay, and
a later fort with a stone wall about 9 feet thick, the founda-
tions of which are in places built into the ditch of the
earlier fort. The south gateway of the earlier fort is close
to the south gateway of the later fort.
semicircular arch, constructed without a keystone, and springing from square
pier walls. The blocks of stone, neatly squared, are about twice as large as
those in the wall at York, and on several are mason's marks. The parapets
are modern. The arch is about 13 feet wide and 7 feet high, and the middle
of the bridge is about 8 feet. The track leading to it from the south is
called " tke Old Street." Professor John Phillips, in Rivers, &*<:., of York-
shire, p. 83, and Mr. Roach Smith believe it to be Roman work, but other
authorities think the bridge to be Norman work.
1 Warburton's note on his map respecting this road is : " This Roman
way goes [from Ribchester] to York and for the most part visible being
paved with stone throughout."
1 Conducted by Messrs. Simpson and May.
ROMAN YORKSHIRE 29
The gateway of the later fort was of stone flanked by
a tower. " One of the gateways of the earlier rampart
was constructed of wood. Huge beams of timber con-
stituted the sides of the gate, and one of the post-holes
contained a ' butt end ' 3 feet high and I ft. 3 in. x I ft.
i in." The buildings have been wholly destroyed and only
foundations of the walls remain. Some fragments of
pottery have been found which are assigned to the first
century, and support the theory that Elslack was the work
of Agricola.
Besides the legionary roads mentioned in the Itinerary ',
Roman Yorkshire was intersected in all directions by other
roads, some, such as the roads over Blackstone Edge and
" Wade's Causeway," of considerable importance.
BLACKSTONE EDGE ROAD. If we may hazard a con-
jecture upon a subject upon which there is very slight if
any evidence, we suggest the Blackstone Edge road is an
early road to Isurium (Aldborough), constructed before the
adoption of York as the seat of Roman power. The road
issued out from Manchester near Hunts Bank, now occupied
by the Cathedral and Cheetham's College (both of which
stand on the site of a Roman station). In Whitaker's time
the road was visible ; it was 5 yards in width, bordered
with large stones running in the direction of Rochdale, but
it has been so completely destroyed that some authors have
doubted its existence ; but its general direction has been
proved by remains found at various places adjoining the
supposed line of road.
The best preserved and most accessible portion of the
road is on the Lancashire side of the hills. It appears to
have passed Lidgate about a mile east of Littleborough,
and then over Blackstone Edge about two miles east of
Littleborough. A little south of the- road near the fourth
milestone from Rochdale, the paving of the causeway
begins, ascending in a straight line (at a gradient of I in 7,
in some places I in 4^) for some 1600 yards to the top of
30 MEMORIALS OF OLD YORKSHIRE
the ridge where the two counties of Lancashire and York-
shire meet.
"The paving is in regular courses across the road, and seems to be
bedded in rubble upon the rock : it is now several feet below the level of
the surface of the moor, the peat which covered it having apparently been
removed. It is about 18 feet wide, and is bordered with stones set on edge,
and in the middle there is a line of large blocks hollowed out so as to
form a longitudinal trough 14 inches wide and 8 or 9 deep, the bottom of
which is rather higher in the middle than at the sides. Higher up the hill
the trough ceases, and a paved causeway 12 feet wide branches off on the
north at an angle of 20 degrees, and continues for a short distance in a
westerly direction at a flatter gradient ; the trough stones reappear about the
branch, and a rut in the paving 2 feet 4 inches from the centre of the trough
is soon very plain on the north side, in places 3 or 4 inches deep : higher up
a rut appears on the south side, well marked, with traces of the rut on the
north side, both at the same distance (2 feet 4 inches) from the middle of the
trough. Appearances suggest two wheel tracks of about 2 feet gauge with
one wheel in the trough rather than one track of 4 feet 6 inches gauge as has
been suggested. Towards the summit the pavement is a good deal broken
up and the bare rock appears. There is no middle trough, but the large flat
stones forming the pavement are slightly grooved by wear in the line of it." 1
The road descends on the eastern or Yorkshire side of
moor for nearly two miles, and the trough stones again
appear. The paved road is buried in most places under
peat, but the direction of the causeway can always be traced
by two parallel lines of heather or bilberry mounds which
cover the paved road and the curbs or edges of stones of
the road.
The trough in the middle of the road has given rise to
much speculation, and about a dozen theories have been
put forward as to its origin, most of which will be found
summed up by Dr. March in his paper. The most probable
explanation is that the " trough " was used for skidding the
wheels of heavy laden carts.
Owing to the difficulty in explaining the use of the
" trough," some recent writers have contended the road
is of post-Roman construction. The great consensus of
1 Codrington, On Roman Roads in Britain, 2nd edit., p. 106. See also
"The Road over Blackstone Edge," by H. C. March, M.D., in Transactions
of Lancashire and Cheshire Society, vol. i. 1883, p. 75.
ROMAN YORKSHIRE 31
opinion, however, is strongly in favour of its Roman
origin.
One of the earliest travellers over the road was John
Warburton (Somerset Herald), and himself a Lancashire
man, who prepared a map of Yorkshire from personal
observation ; and in his explanation of his map says : " 4.
The Roman military ways are shown by two unequal
black lines, and when discontinued or broken off are not
visible." The map is not dated, but was most probably
issued before I72O. 1 On it he shows the Blackstone Edge
road as still complete, and adds the following note : " The
Roman way extends from Manchester in Lancashire unto
Aldborough near Boroughbridge, is all paved with stones
and near eight yards broad." Sayers' map (1728) and all
subsequent maps showing Roman roads appear to be copied
from Warburton's. Warburton's notes and papers used
for the preparation of his map are among the Lansdowne
manuscripts in the British Museum.
The road after crossing the ridge is known as " The
Devil's " or " Daub's " Causeway, and winds down Black-
stone Clough to Baitings, where Warburton placed a camp.
From Baitings, the road has been traced to Upwood above
Keighley. It crossed the river Calder at Longbottom by
a ford paved with large blocks of stone to the width of
20 feet, which were removed when the bed of the river
was altered on the construction of the railway. It then
ran over the " Carrs," where its pavement was removed,
when Ogden reservoir was made, and through Denholme
Gate, where it could lately be seen behind St. Paul's School ;
and it crossed the river Aire somewhere near Marley Hall,
and ascended the hills behind Upwood House, where a
large portion of the pavement was taken up about fifty
years ago.
The road then crossed Rombalds Moor, and descended
into the valley of the Wharfe, down Weary Hill to the
1 See "Warburton's Journal," in Yorkshire Archaological Journal, vol. xv.,
p. 275.
32 MEMORIALS OF OLD YORKSHIRE
camp at Ilkley. When the road ceased to be used for
general traffic cannot be ascertained, but up to the middle
of the eighteenth century it was fairly passable from Little-
borough to Ilkley for foot passengers, though in a ruinous
condition ; in some places incorporated with the highways
and in other parts enclosed. 1
The road crossed the river Wharfe at Ilkley, and
ascended the steep hill near Stubbam Wood, where a little
of it is still visible. Whitaker, writing in I7/I, 2 states that
the road was found on Middleton and Blueburg House
(Blubberhouse) Moors, paved like the portion of the road
over Blackstone Edge, with stones uncommonly large, and
edged like that with still larger ones. The pavement may,
as surmised by Horsley, have sunk into the bogs and peat
where it traversed the wild moorland region to the north
of Ilkley, or may have been broken up for fences. But
portions of the road may still be found under the greensward
towards Windsoever. 3
The general direction ol the road is across Bracken
Ridge and Sug Marsh, and after crossing the Washburne
River to Cragg Hall, it joins, and forms part of, the present
highway as far as Kettlesing Toll Bar. The road passed
on to Hampsthwaite, and there it crossed the river Nidd,
near the church through Holy Bank Wood, where in 1894
it was in evidence in the shape of large stones, 5 or 6 feet
long, and I foot wide. 4 The road through Clint to Aid-
borough is lost ; but, according to Warburton's map, it
ran by Staveley and Copgrave to Aldborough, where it
crossed the river Ure upon a wood bridge, the piles of
which were visible as late as the eighteenth century. In
1 That the road has been altered from time to time is probable from an
entry on the Patent Rolls, 19 Ed. I. 1291 (Sterling): "Grant to Hugh de
Elaund and Richard de Radeclive for two years of a custom on goods for sale
taken across the Causeway of Blakesteynegge [i.e. Blackstone Edge] to be
applied to its repairs." Elland and Radcliffe were local names. In 1291 the
only roads over Stanedge and Blackstone Edge would be the Roman roads.
2 History of Manchester, vol. i. p. 140.
3 Turner's History of Ilkley, 1885, p. 275.
* Speight's Nidderdale, 1894, p. 380.
ROMAN YORKSHIRE 33
1712 the road, 10 feet wide and paved with stones, was
laid open to Roecliff common field, two miles from Aid-
borough, at about 2 feet below the surface. 1
WADE'S CAUSEWAY. Another road, not mentioned in
the Itinerary, but still visible in various places, is the road
commonly called " Wade's Causeway," which ran from
York to Dunsley near Whitby. The road from York to
the river Rye is now obliterated, but Drake 2 found the
stratum near the Rye very plain, and composed of " large
blue pebbles, some of a ton weight." At Cawthorn, about
four miles beyond Pickering, the road is again to be met
with near four remarkable camps, now for the most part
overgrown by furze and shrubs lying on the very edge
of the moors and placed close together. 3 They are in
reality double camps, two being united together. Three of
the camps have only a single agger, but the most westerly
camp is square, with a double ditch and vallum with the
Roman road running through it east and west, and then
turning north, descends the hill through Ellerton Lodge,
where a portion of the paving remains. From certain pecu-
liarities in the entrances to the camp, also noticed by Roy
at the Roman camp at Dealgrin Ross, Strathern, occupied
by the Ninth Legion, it has been conjectured that the Caw-
thorn camps are the work of that legion. The same peculiarity
existed in the defences of the Roman camp at Malton. 4
From Cawthorn, the road points to Dunsley Bay
near Whitby (the Dunus Sinus of Ptolemy). Though
mostly buried in the ling, it can be traced in riding over
the moors by the horse's hoofs striking upon it, as noticed
by Drake 6 in 1746, who says he found "the road to be
1 Cough's Camdcn, vol. iii. p. 300.
z Eboracum, p. 36.
3 They are figured in Roy's Military Antiquities, and Young's Whitby,
vol. ii. p. 694. They have recently been explored by the Yorkshire Com-
mittee of Roman Antiquities, but without any result.
4 Murray's Yorkshire, p. 175, ed. 1874.
5 Eboracum, p. 35.
C
34 MEMORIALS OF OLD YORKSHIRE
12 feet wide paved with a flint pebble, some of them
very large and in many places as firm as it was the first
day. In some places the agger is 3 feet above the
surface." Since Drake's time a good deal of the road
has been broken up to repair roads and buildings, and
it is by no means easy to trace. Drake appears to have
traced the road towards Dunsley Bay, and traces of it
near Mulgrave Castle were shown to the present writer
some thirty years ago.
In 1817 the road was visible at various points, and on
Lease Rigg it was described by Young l as follows :
"The foundation is usually a stratum of gravel on rubbish, over which
is a strong pavement of stones, placed with the flattest side uppermost ;
above these another stratum of gravel or earth to fill up and smooth the
surface, the middle higher than the sides, which are secured with a border
of flat stones placed edgeways, the elevation was in some places 2 or 3 feet,
there was sometimes a gutter in each side, and the breadth, exclusive of the
gutters, was 16 feet."
Wade's Causeway exhibits in operation the gradual
destruction of a paved Roman road. On the moors far
away from " intakes " or enclosures, the paving is to
be found beneath a few inches of soil, very much as
it was when the Roman traffic on it ceased. On the
unenclosed moor enough is left to be mapped as traces
of a Roman road, but within the intake cultivation soon
obliterates all traces.
There is also another line of road, which quitted the
fifth and eighth Itinera near Pontefract, and proceeded
by Darfield and Templeborough and by the long cause-
way through Sheffield and the north part of Derbyshire.
The only existing remains of this road in Yorkshire is the
camp at Templeborough, about a mile from Rotherham,
where, if Horsley's conjecture as to the reading of the
Notitia is correct, a body of " cuirassiers " was stationed.
A full description of the camp has been published by
1 History of Whitby t vol. ii. p. 706.
ROMAN YORKSHIRE 35
Mr. Leader, but the ruins, not being protected from the
weather, are becoming indistinguishable. Some objects of
interest have been collected together and are now de-
posited in the Museum at Clifton Park, Rotherham ;
several tiles stamped COH IIII GALL, and a fine mould
for a medallion of Diana which was found in excavating
for a new workhouse at Rotherham.
THE ROMAN MILITARY FORCE. No account of Roman
Yorkshire would be complete without some reference to the
Roman military forces.
The Roman forces, at the time of their occupation of
Britain, consisted of two classes of soldiers, legionary
troops and their auxiliaries. The legions for the most
part represented the old citizen army of the Republic.
The auxiliaries were levied from subject nations, and
not from the citizens of Rome. The strength of a legion
varied greatly at different times, but during the Roman
occupation of Britain it comprised about 4000 to 6000
heavy armed infantry, divided into ten cohorts, and
with a small body of about 300 Roman cavalry. The
auxiliaries, or allied infantry, were generally as numerous
as the Roman infantry, sometimes in excess of it. The
unit was a small body of 500 (sometimes 1000) in-
fantry, also called " a cohort," and an " ala " of cavalry,
generally twice the strength of the legionary horse. A
fully equipped legion would therefore average from 10,000
to 12,000 men.
The Roman legions were designated by numbers, as
Legio II. or Secunda, and also by some name denoting
when, where, and by what emperor they had been raised,
or commemorative of some distinctive circumstance. Some
of the legions also bore symbols : for instance, the Second
Legion had for a symbol a she-goat, and the Eighth a bull
and a lion. The Sixth does not appear to have had any
symbol. On coins struck by some of the emperors, viz.,
Severus, Gallienus, Carausius, the legend of the reverse
36 MEMORIALS OF OLD YORKSHIRE
consists of the number and sometimes the title of a legion,
as LEG. vi.
The Second, Sixth, and Ninth Legions were connected
with Eboracum. Of these the second, " Legio II. Augusta,"
also called " Britannica," came over with Claudius, and an
altar found at York, dedicated to Fortune by the wife of a
soldier of this legion, affords some evidence of its having
been at York, though its headquarters were at some later
date at Caerleon in South Wales.
The Ninth Legion (" Hispanica ") also came into Britain
with Claudius, and suffered so severely in the campaigns
against Boadicea, and at Dealgrin Ross in Scotland, that
some writers have thought it was disbanded or incor-
porated with the Sixth Legion. There are memorials of
it at York, Aldborough, Slack, and probably at Cawthorn
camps.
The Sixth Legion (" Victrix. Pia. Fidelis") came over to
England with Hadrian. Mr. Wellbeloved says no mention
of this legion is ever found on inscriptions belonging to
the south of England, 1 but it occurs frequently in those
of the north. It appears to have been employed on the
Roman Wall, and to have come to York through Lanca-
shire, as several inscriptions belonging to this legion have
been found in Lancashire. One of the most interesting of
Roman relics was found near the road from Manchester to
Ilkley, on the confines of Yorkshire. It is the representation
of a human right arm and hand, 9! inches in length, and
weighing 6 ounces, and formed of pure silver, the hand
being solid and the arm hollow. An annulet of silver sur-
rounded the arm above the elbow, and another the wrist,
from which hung a silver plate, bearing an inscription
drilled in small holes through it, and reads : " Victoriae Leg .
VI Vic Val . Rvfvs V.S.L.M." ..." To Victory of the
1 The Roman inscriptions to the Sixth Legion found at Bath are memo-
rials to soldiers who apparently had visited Bath for health, and numerous
inscriptions relating to the legion are preserved in the York and Halifax
Museums.
ROMAN YORKSHIRE 37
Sixth Legion the Victorious Valerius Rufus performs his
vow willingly, to a deserving object." *
The legionaries and auxiliaries were sometimes stationed
together, but not always quartered together. The legion-
aries occupied the great fortresses, and the auxiliaries
occupied the smaller forts. The station at York, which
contained within its walls 60 or 70 acres, was garrisoned
by the Ninth, and afterwards by the Sixth Legion. The
subsidiary camps or stations, which comprised only 4 to
8 acres, were held by the auxiliaries, e.g. one body being
stationed at Templeborough, another at Ilkley (Olicana),
and another at Bowes. No two contiguous subsidiary
camps were occupied by the same nationality of auxiliaries.
Neither legionaries nor auxiliaries were moved about, but
remained in the same station often for successive centuries.
For instance, the Sixth Legion remained at York from its
first landing in Britain, A.D. 117, to the final abandonment
of Britain, about A.D. 405.
One of the most valuable privileges of a Roman was
that of citizenship ; without it no man had any political status,
his property was insecure, and any marriage which he
might contract was unrecognised by the State. He was
liable to personal indignity, and might be treated as little
better than a slave. Not only was it a proud and valuable
prerogative, but it is evident that means were taken to
enable any one possessing it easily to establish his claim.
In early times the grants of citizenship were duly registered
at Rome, and copies of the grant, inscribed on bronze or
copper plates, appear to have been sent to the place where
the new citizens resided. Four bronze tablets of two leaves
each (hence called diplomas) have been found in England.
They confer citizenship and the right of marriage 2 upon
certain soldiers serving in Britain, who have been twenty-
five years in the army ; one belonging to the reign of
1 Figured in Watkins* Roman Lancashire, p. 213.
2 The Roman soldier was not allowed to marry. The Emperor Claudius
was the first who granted them the privileges of married men.
38 MEMORIALS OF OLD YORKSHIRE
Hadrian, circa A.D. 1 24 (now in the British Museum), was
found in 1761 at Riveling, not far from the camp at Temple-
borough. The diplomas state that " he [the Emperor] gives
the citizenship to those whose names are written below, to
them, their children and their posterity, together with the
right of marriage with those wives which they then have,
or if they be bachelors, with those whom they may here-
after marry, provided that they have but one each." The
document concluded with the names of the consuls, the
name of the person to whom the citizenship is granted,
the place in Rome where the original degree granting the
citizenship is to be found, and the names of the witnesses.
The diplomas have had their two leaves bound together by
thongs, so as to be carried upon the person. The Riveling
tablets are much corroded, but on them is inscribed a list
of twenty-seven bodies of troops (six alae and twenty-one
cohorts) among them being the second cohort of" Lingones,"
who have left a memorial of their presence at Ilkley. 2 In
one of the diplomas the names of several troops who were
in England when the Notitia was compiled, circa A.D. 403,
are set out. We have, therefore, certain proof that some
troops were in Britain at least three hundred years. Each
garrison would probably be recruited by the sons of soldiers,
by friendly natives, and by importations from the land from
which it originally came.
There are few specimens of Roman-British statuary
existing in England, but the York Museum possesses a
very noble one. It is carved in light-coloured grit, probably
by a local artist. The figure is 5 feet 10 inches high, but
when found was unfortunately defective in the feet and
right arm, which have been since added to the figure. It
represents a martial personage in helmet, breastplate, and
greaves, with the left hand resting upon a large oval shield.
The hair is arranged in fillets, and the face is beautifully
cut. Various theories have been discussed as to the
1 Figured in Cough's Camden (1806), vol. iii. p. 263 ; and more accurately
n the Lapidarium Septentrionale.
STATUE OK MARS, YORK MUSEUM.
ROMAN YORKSHIRE 39
personage intended to be represented. Some suppose Ares
or Mars, others Geta, who is known to have been in York
circa A.D. 211, and Mr. W. T. Watkins suggests Britannia,
a suggestion which has not found favour with experts.
Closely connected with the armour of a Roman soldier, the
York Museum possesses a very fine boss of a shield, dug up
from the mouth of the river Tyne. The boss is 1 2 inches
long by 10 inches broad, with a circular knob in the centre.
The material is bronze, coated with tin, and the figures
have been made by scraping off the tin. In the centre of
the boss is the representation of the Roman Eagle. " In
the four corners are representations of the four seasons.
Spring, in the upper left-hand corner, is figured as a youth
striving to gather his garments around him. Summer is
represented, in the opposite angle, by a husbandman who
grasps a scythe. Below is Autumn, figured as a winged
genius, holding a huge bunch of grapes in the left hand
and a basket of corn or fruit in the left. Winter, in the
remaining corner, is clad in furs fluttering in the winds."
In the upper corners of the boss, under the figures of the
spring and summer are engraved the words LEG VIII. AVG
("The Eighth Legion, surnamed the Imperial"). In the
upper central compartment of the boss is a warrior in the
attitude of attack, probably intended to represent Mars.
In the corresponding compartment below is a bull, probably
the badge of the Eighth Legion. Above the bull is a crescent.
On the left-hand margin of the plate is an inscription in
punctured letters, which Dr. Bruce translated as "Junius
Dubitatus of the Company of Julius Magnus the centurion."
The Eighth Legion was not in Britain, but somewhere near
Mayence, but it is suggested that Dubitatus was wrecked
on a sea voyage, and probably lost his life in the Tyne.
The boss of the shield is one of the choicest specimens
of Roman work in the country.
WORSHIP. The religion of the Roman was an affair
of State, and we therefore expect to meet with some
40 MEMORIALS OF OLD YORKSHIRE
vestiges of their religious rites wherever their arms pene-
trated.
Almost every town or station had its temple. Remains
of temples have been found at Bath, Cirencester, and other
places, and there seems to be little doubt that a temple
to Bellona existed at York. Spartian, in his life of the
Emperor Septimus Severus, says : l " Coming to the city
and desiring to offer sacrifice, the Emperor was conducted
first by a rustic soothsayer to the temple of Bellona."
Drake 2 thought that the temple was near where the Abbey
of St. Mary's or the Manor House now stands, and where
a small brass figure, apparently of the goddess, was found.
Innumerable altars have been found in Britain, but the
greater part in a mutilated condition.
Mr. Wright 3 says : " In the wild country along the line
of Hadrian's Wall, where they have escaped destruction in
greater numbers than elsewhere, it was a practice among
the peasantry to chip away the sculptures and inscriptions
whenever they found them, because they associated them
in their minds with notions of magic and witchcraft." The
altars to the different deities, especially to the lesser objects
of worship, seem to have been placed within the temples
of the superior gods. They were perhaps placed in the
open air, in the forum, or the roadside, or in the cemeteries,
like the mediaeval crosses.
Inscriptions have been found to the chief Roman deities,
Jupiter, Mars, Apollo, Minerva, Ceres ; the lesser deities,
such as Silvanus, ^Esculapius, and others; the Grecian
and Eastern deities, the Tyrian Hercules, Mithras, Serapis ;
the Nymphs and Genii, Fortune and deified personifica-
tions ; the deities of the auxiliary races, the Deae Matres,
Vitires, &c.
An enumeration of all the inscribed stones found in
1 Vit. Server., c. xxii.
* Eboracum, p. 12.
3 The Celt, Roman, and Saxoti, $th edit., p. 314, where a full and
interesting description of a Roman altar is to be found.
ROMAN YORKSHIRE 41
Roman Yorkshire would expand this article beyond the
scope of the " Memorials," but the following examples,
taken from the York Museum, may be of interest to the
general reader. 1 Numerous inscriptions to Jupiter, the
chief deity of Rome, have been found in Britain. One
(now in the Oxford Museum) found on Bishop Hill, York,
in 1638, bore an inscription: "To Jupiter, best and
greatest, and to the gods and goddesses who preside over
the household, and to the penates, for the preservation
of the health of himself and his family, Pablius jElius
Marcianus, prefect of a Cohort, dedicated and consecrated
this altar." Mercury is often figured, and examples of
sculptured figures representing him have been found at
Aldborough and York.
One of the chief occupations of Roman country life
was the chase ; Roman and British pottery is frequently
ornamented with hunting scenes, in which the stag, the
hare, and the dog are represented. The chase of the boar
appears to have been a favourite pursuit in Britain. An
altar has been found at Durham dedicated to " Silvanus,"
the god of forests and hunting, by the prefect of an ala
of soldiers, who had slain a boar, which had set all the
hunters before him at defiance. And altars to the same
god have been found at York and Moresby.
Altars were dedicated to other gods for health and
welfare. In the interior north wall of the church tower of
Ilkley is a figure locally known as " Hercules and the
Serpent," and which, it has been suggested, represents
the goddess of healing.
One of the laws of the twelve tables was that " Foreign
deities should not be worshipped " ; but in the later periods
1 Handbook to the Antiquities in the Grounds and Museum of the Yorkshire
Philosophical Society, 8th edit., 1891. Edited by Canon Raine. The Society
possesses a large collection of objects, mostly found in York and the county,
illustrative of Roman manners and life. There is no gathering from any
Roman site in Britain that can be compared with it (Raine, Historic Towns
(York), p. 10). The bulk of the collection is housed in the ancient building
called "The Hospitium."
42 MEMORIALS OF OLD YORKSHIRE
of the Roman State, foreign worship was tolerated if not
authoritatively established.
Amongst Eastern superstitions the worship of the
Phoenician Astarte, the Egyptian Serapis, and the Persian
Mithras planted themselves deeply in Britain.
That there was a temple at Eboracum dedicated to
Serapis is clear from the following inscription on a tablet
of coarse grit found in a cellar on the south side of the
river at York : " DEO SANCTO | SERAPI | TEMPLVM A SO I
LO FECIT | CL HIERONY | MIANVS LEG | LEG VI VIC." 1
The temple of Serapis is supposed to have stood near
the old North-Eastern Railway, and a portion of the pave-
ment from that site is preserved in the museum. From
this inscription it appears that the temple was erected from
its foundation by Claudius Hieronymianus, legate of the
Sixth Legion, "Victorious." The name Hieronymianus
also occurs upon an inscription found at Northallerton.
Perhaps the most interesting sculpture yet discovered
in York is a tablet 3 feet 3 inches high by 22 inches
wide, representing the sacrifice and mysteries of Mithras.
Mithras was the Persian god of created light and of
all earthly wisdom. In the course of time he became
identified with the Sun god, who conquers all demons of
darkness. In the first half of the first century B.C. his
worship is said to have been introduced into the Roman
provinces of the West, and by the beginning of the second
century B.C. it had become common throughout the Roman
Empire. Mithras was a special favourite of the Roman
soldiers. Being born from the rocks, he was worshipped
in natural or artificial caves. He is represented as a young
man in oriental dress, and as an invincible hero, stabbing a
bull with his dagger, or standing on a bull he has thrown
down. In the York tablet, above the principal figure, are
three busts, one on the left wearing a radiant crown, two
on the right much mutilated. On each side of the principal
1 Figured in Wellbeloved's Eburacum, p. 75, who gives a sketch of the
worship of Serapis.
TABLET TO MITHRAS, YORK MUSEUM.
ROMAN YORKSHIRE 43
group is an attendant bearing a torch, one inverted with
flames downwards ; the torch of the other (not seen in the
York tablet in consequence of its mutilated condition, but
shown on tablets in other collections) with the flame up-
wards. The former denotes the descent of the souls of men
from the lunar region to the earth ; the other their ascent,
when regenerated and purified, to their celestial and eternal
home.
There was another class of Roman deities commemo-
rated in numerous altars found in Britain. The nymphs
presided over groves and meadows, and especially over
fountains. Even the roads had their deities, and an altar was
found at Greta Bridge dedicated "To the god who ways
and paths has devised, Titus Irclas performed a holy vow
most willingly and dutifully, Quintus Varius Vitalis, bene-
ficiary of the Consul the holy altar restored, Apronianus
and Bradua being Consuls." l
The genii were a different description of divinities,
having each a peculiar place or object entrusted to his
care. When a man opened a shop he began by expressing
a wish that the genius of the place would take charge of
it. Three such inscribed votive tablets 2 are in the York
Museum. Fortune seems also to have been a popular
deity, as numerous altars inscribed to the goddess show.
One found by Whitaker 3 at Slack in 1736 was inscribed:
" Caius Antonius Modestus, centurion of the Sixth, vic-
torious, pious, and faithful Legion, consecrated this altar
to Fortune, and with pleasure discharges the vow he
owed."
But one of the most interesting inscriptions is found
at Bowes (Lavatrse), raised by the same Propraetor or
Governor of Britain, Virius Lupus, 4 whose name also
occurs on an inscription at Ilkley : " To the goddess
1 Apronianus and Bradua were Consuls in the year 191.
2 Figured by Wellbeloved, p. 87.
3 History of Manchester, vol. i. p. 89.
4 Virius Lupus appears, or may have been, Propraetor circa 197 to 21 1.
44 MEMORIALS OF OLD YORKSHIRE
Fortune | Virius Lupus | Legate | of Augustus, Pro-
praetor | the bath, by force | of fire burnt | of the first
cohort of the | Thracians, restored | under the care | of
Valerius Fronte | Praefect | of the wing of the horse of
Vettoneo."
The same Virius Lupus also rebuilt some station or
building at Ilkley, as appears from one of the now illegible
inscriptions preserved at Middleton Lodge, and which ran :
" The Emperors Severus Augustus and Antoninum | Caesar
elect | restored under the care of Virius Lupus, their Legate
Propraetor."
The auxiliary troops had also their divinities. Among
them are those known by the title of decs matres. It is
said not more than one altar to these deities has been
found in Italy, or mentioned by the classic writers ; but
altars and inscriptions to them are very numerous along
the banks of the Rhine. When the decs matres are figured
on altars or monuments they are always represented as
three seated females, with baskets or bowls of fruit on
their knees. Five monuments commemorative of them
are in the York Museum. On one of them the decs are
represented on the front of the altar sitting in a recess.
On the right side of the altar is a single male figure, and
on the left two male figures, and on the fourth side is an
animal, probably a swine, standing before an altar. The
fine altar, dedicated to the decs matres by M. Nantonum
Orbitales, was found at Doncaster six feet underground.
SEPULCHRAL MONUMENTS. In the disposal of the
dead two methods have most generally prevailed. I. Burial
of the entire body. 2. Burial of the ashes after the body
has been burned. The earlier practice of the Roman was
to bury the body entire, but in the time of Sylla the custom
of burning the dead was established. Both modes of burial
were used indiscriminately in Roman Britain, but the prac-
tice of burning the dead and burying the ashes in urns
seems to have predominated. The earlier law of the
ROMAN YORKSHIRE 45
Romans prohibited the burial or burning of the dead within
the city. Mr. Wellbeloved J says no vestige of a Roman
burial within the walls of Eboracum has been discovered,
but in the suburbs, and especially on the south side of the
river, relics of the Roman dead abound.
When a corpse was to be burned, it was carried in
solemn procession to the funeral pile raised at a place set
apart for the purpose, called the ustrinum." When the
body had been consumed, the ashes of the dead were
placed in an urn in which they were committed to the grave.
The cinerary urns found in Britain are generally plain and
large, of a dark-coloured pottery. Examples are to be
found in most museums of Roman antiquities, and the
York Museum possesses a large and fine series.
Sometimes the ashes were deposited in glass jars, and
sometimes in coffers of lead called ossuaria? A very fine
ossuarz'um, 15 inches high by 10 inches, with a round cupola,
was found in York in 1875. When discovered it was half
full of coloured human bones. A unique inscription is cut
on it by a sharp-pointed tool :
D M
V(LP)AIE FELICISSIMAE Julia FeJicissima
QVAE VIXIT ANNOS who lived ... in years*
... Ill MENSES XI DIES. eleven months and . . .
FECERVNT VLPIVS FELIX ET days. Her parents Ulpius
. . . ANDRONICA Felix and . . . Andronica
PARENTES have placed
this
When a regular Roman cemetery is opened, the cinerary
urn is often found to be surrounded by a group of vessels
1 Eburacum, p. 98.
2 Mr. Wright thought he had discovered the site of an ustrinum outside
the walls of Isurium (Aldborough).
8 See a paper on " Roman Leaden Coffins and Ossuaria," Collectanea
Antiqua, vol. vii. p. 170, illustrated by several examples from York Museum.
4 It may have been 13 or 23 years.
46 MEMORIALS OF OLD YORKSHIRE
of various descriptions, which perhaps held wine, aromatics,
and other articles. Among these are often elegant cups
and paterae of red Samian ware. The cinerary urns were
in many cases enclosed in a chest of wood, but they were
usually covered above with a large flat tile or stone. The
chest or grave was itself often formed of tiles or stones
instead of wood. At York graves have been found made
of tiles in a peculiar arrangement. One now in the museum,
found in 1833 on the side of the Roman road near York
leading to Tadcaster (Calcaria), was formed of ten roof
tiles, each I foot 7 inches long, I foot 3^ inches broad, and
i inch in thickness. Four of these tiles were placed on
each side, and one at each end, with a row of ridge
tiles on the top. Each tile bore the impress LEG VI VI.
Remains of a funeral pile 6 inches thick were found under
these tiles, but no urn or vessel of any kind.
In another similar tomb the tiles were stamped with
the inscription LEG IX HISP ; within the tomb were found
several urns, containing ashes standing on a flat tiled
pavement. Sepulchral tombs made of stone are rarer than
those formed of tiles. In some places, especially at York,
massive chests or sarcophagi of stone have been found,
which from their forms and inscriptions appear to have
stood above ground. Some of these sarcophagi present
a very peculiar mode of sepulture. 1
After the body had been laid, apparently in full dress
(most of the bodies are those of women), on its back at the
bottom of the chest, liquid lime was poured in until the
body was covered. This, becoming hard, has preserved
an impression of the body, of which the skeleton is often
found entire. In one coffin at York the lime bears the
impression of a female with a small child laid in her lap,
and the garments in which they were buried, of the colour
of a rich purple, as well as the texture of the cloth which
covered her, are distinctly visible in the impression.
1 Wellbeloved's Eburacum, p. 108.
ROMAN YORKSHIRE 47
Sarcophagi where the body has not been burned are
sometimes found made of baked clay, either in one piece
with a lid, or in several pieces, so formed as to fit together.
Examples have been found in York and Aldborough.
Some coffins found in Britain are of lead. Many
examples have been found in Roman cemeteries and several
are preserved in the museum. One 6 feet long 1 has a
corded pattern worked on it. Inside the coffin, and em-
bedded in gypsum, were the remains of a lady, whose hair,
containing two jet pins, has been preserved. The lead
coffin is enclosed in a stone coffin ; this was found under
the booking-office of the new station at York.
Sometimes the sepulchral chest was expanded into a
spacious chamber. One still exists under a house on the
Mount. It is a large domed vault of brick, 8 feet long,
5 feet broad, and 6 feet high, and contains a beautiful
wrought coffin of limestone in remarkably good preservation.
The Roman sepulchral inscription usually consists of a slab
of stone, which appears to have been fixed on the ground
like our common gravestones. At York, inscriptions are
found on both sides of some of the large sarcophagi. The
inscription is often surmounted by a sculptured figure,
intended sometimes to represent the individual commemo-
rated by it.
Usually inscriptions are dedicated at the beginning to
the gods of the shades (perhaps the shades of the departed),
diis manibus, commonly expressed by the letters D.M. The
name of the deceased is then stated, with his age, and,
if a soldier, the number of years he has served. This is
usually followed by the name of the person who has raised
the tomb. The age is often stated with great precision. The
Romans appear to have had a superstitious dread of the
word death ; they did not say a person died on such a
day, but that he or she lived so many years, months,
and days.
1 Figured in Smith's Collectanea, voL vii. p. 178.
48 MEMORIALS OF OLD YORKSHIRE
Many of the Roman sepulchral inscriptions display
feelings of the truest and most affectionate description.
They are addressed to the deceased by near relations,
and are sometimes from a parent to a child, children and
parents, or a wife to her husband; for example, a large
sarcophagus found at York was made to receive an infant
whose father was a soldier in the Sixth Legion. The
inscription : D.M. SIMPLECLAE FLORENTINE | ANIME IN-
NOCENTISSIME | QVE VIXIT MENSES DECEM | FELICIVS
SIMPLEX PATER FECIT | LEG VI V. " To the Gods,
the Manes. To Simplicia Florentina, a most innocent being,
who lived ten months. Felicius Simplex, her father, of
the Sixth Legion Victorious, dedicated this." 1 The words
"anime innocentissime " are also found on the Christian
tombs in the Catacombs of Rome.
Another large coffin of coarse grit, j\ feet long by
2 feet II inches, found in the castle yard in 1835, is in-
scribed on a panel : " To the Gods, the Manes. To Aurelius
Superus, a Centurion of the Sixth Legion, who lived thirty-
eight years, four months, and thirteen days, Aurelia Cen-
sorina, his wife, set up this memorial."
In the museum is a large tablet found in use as a cover
to the sarcophagus of JE\ia Severa. The upper part shows
the figure of a father and mother and two children. The
inscription, so far as it can ibe read, is as follows : D.M.
FLAVIN AVGVSTINAE | VIXIT . AN XXXVIIII . M VII
D XI FILIVS | . . . VS AVGSTINVS VIXIT AN . I D
III | ... VIXIT AN I M VIIII D . V - C/ERESIVS |
. . . MIL LEG VI VIC CONVGI CAR | FILIIS ET SIBI
E C. From which it appears that " Caeresius ... a soldier
of the Sixth Legion, raised this memorial to his wife, Flavis
Augustina, who lived thirty-nine years, seven months, and
eleven days ... to his son Augustinus, who lived one year
and three days, and to a daughter, who lived one year,
i Canon Raine took this inscription as a peg on which to hang his
beautiful story of a Roman child's life, Simplicia Florentina, York, A.D.
100.
ROMAN YORKSHIRE 49
nine months, and five days," providing at the same time a
memorial for himself. 1
Another stone is inscribed: "To the Manes of JElia.
Severa, who died aged twenty- seven years, eight months,
and four days, once the wife of Caecilius Rufus. Csecilius
Musicus, her freeman (her husband being dead), erected
this monument to her memory." When found the letters
were still filled with red paint.
A sepulchral monument was found at Ilkley, in 1884,
representing a female seated figure, with an imperfect in-
scription beneath, which Mr. Watkin 2 read as follows :
"To the divine shades of ... daughter of ... thirty
years of age, a Conovian Citizen. Here she is laid."
Mr. Watkin thinks the inscription unique, as it is the
only inscription of a Conovian citizen which has been found
in Britain.
No one has turned his attention to the religion of the
Romans in Britain, without earnestly and anxiously asking
the question : " Are there any traces during the Roman
period of the introduction of Christianity into Britain ? "
Prior to 1901 not a trace of Christianity had been found
among the innumerable religious and sepulchral monuments
of the Roman period found in Britain. 3 But Mr. Platnauer 4
maintains that there is " unequivocal evidence " of the intro-
duction of Christianity into York, by the discovery of a
coffin containing the bones of a young woman, inscribed :
AVE [S]O[ROR] VIVAS IN DEO.
POTTERY. Few collections of Roman-British pottery
can be compared with that preserved in York Museum.
No Roman city or camp in England has yielded so vast
a number of articles. They amount to over 750, and
besides there are a multitude of other objects illustrating
1 See M' Caul's Britanno-Roman Inscriptions, p. 217.
2 Archaological Journal, vol. Hi. p. 153.
8 Wright's The Celt, Roman, and Saxon, p. 355.
* Handbook to York and District, 1906, p. 27.
D
50 MEMORIALS OF OLD YORKSHIRE
the life and manners of the Romans in York. Attention
can only be called to a few items.
Vestiges of Roman potteries have been traced at
Middlethorp, Castle Howard, Holme-on-Spalding Moor,
and in York, and there is every reason to believe that
much of the pottery found at York and Aldborough is of
local manufacture. Remains of kilns have been discovered
at various places in England for instance, at Upchurch,
Castor, in Staffordshire, &c. The black Upchurch ware
is found more or less on almost all Roman sites, but
Castor ware is by no means common. Samian ware is
found in considerable quantities. Imitations of it have
been made in Britain, but the genuine ware is believed
to have been imported from the continent. Samian ware
is of an extremely delicate texture, and distinguished by
its compact nature, and its red or coral-coloured glaze.
It was held in great esteem by the Romans, and exten-
sively used by them for domestic purposes, but it is
rarely found in other than a broken condition. Examples
of all kinds are preserved in the York Museum, and to
a lesser degree in the Aldborough Museum. Samian
ware was of two kinds, embossed and plain. The former
are commonly in the shape of bowls, or drinking cups,
of various sizes. They are generally ornamented with a
festoon and tassel border, and below that a variety of
ornaments. Some represent scrolls of foliage, fruits, and
flowers; other groups taken from mythological sources
(e.g. Diana with her bow), others from hunting scenes
(lions, boars, wolves, &c.), gladiatorial and kindred objects
(one fine bowl is decorated with a string of captives
chained together), bacchanalian processions, sacrificial
ceremonies, the chase of wild animals, domestic scenes,
and other objects connected with ancient customs. Some
vases are ornamented with a singular pattern in relief,
called the "frill pattern," which is thought to have been
exclusively manufactured at York. The plain or em-
bossed vessels of Samian ware are generally of a smaller
ROMAN YORKSHIRE 51
size and of a great variety in form. Some are ornamented
with a simple ivy leaf scroll on the rim. A large pro-
portion of Samian ware has the name of the potter stamped
on a label at the bottom of the inside, but sometimes it is
on the outside. Over 78 potter's marks on vessels have
been observed in the York Museum. One bowl found at
York is 8J inches in diameter, exhibiting an armed soldier
and other figures, with the maker's name, " Divixti," on
the outside.
Among the most important items of pottery were the
"amphorae" or wine vessels. They are of large dimen-
sions and strongly made, though rarely found unbroken.
Two kinds are known, some long and slender, the other
is more special in shape and shorter in the neck. Both
sorts were pointed at the bottom, for the purpose, it is
said, of fixing them in the earth.
Another manufacture, in which the Romans attained
to great excellence, was that of glass, much of it of
extraordinary beauty. From the brittle character of the
material, glass vessels are found in a perfect state much
more seldom than pottery, and perfect specimens are
rarely found, except in sepulchral interments. In some
instances, the embossed ornaments are of an elaborate
kind and extend to figures and inscriptions. In the York
Museum is a fragment of a small bluish green glass vase,
on the rim of which is represented a chariot race in the
circus. On this portion of the rim is seen a quadriga
with the charioteer, and part of the forelegs of the horses
of another quadriga following, and between these the
column bearing the seven ova, by means of which the
spectators could count the number of rounds in the
course which had been run, one of the ova being taken
down at the completion of each course.
Drinking cups are not infrequently found. " It was a
trait of Roman sentiment both on the continent and in
Britain to accompany familiar or domestic occupations
with invocations of happiness or good fortune upon those
52 MEMORIALS OF OLD YORKSHIRE
who took part in them, and this seems to have been
especially the case in their convivial entertainments." x In
the York Museum are several vessels of dark clay pottery,
ornamented with white lines or scrolls, and with inscrip-
tions running round them, such as MISCEMI (" Mix for
me "), DAMI (" Give me "), VIVAS (" May you live "), &c.
YORK. The story of Roman Yorkshire is practically
the story of Roman Eboracum (York). And for both we
are almost wholly dependent upon lapidary inscriptions
and the evidence of coins. Taking into consideration the
long duration at York of the civil government of Britain,
it is somewhat surprising that the literary notices of Roman
York are so few and brief.
The first literary and certain notice of York is to be
found in Ptolemy's Geography, written some time in the
reign of Antoninus Pius, which began in A.D. 138. In
describing the British tribes he says : " And south from
the Elgovae and the Otadem, stretching from sea to sea,
are the Brigantes, among whose towns are Epiacum,
Vinnoviam, Catarractonium, Calatum, Isurium, Rigodunum,
Olicana, Eboracum (Legio Sexta Victrix), Camuulodonum ;
besides these, about the well-havened bay, are the Parisi
and the City Petuaria."
Of the towns named lying within the boundaries of the
modern Yorkshire, Catarractonium, Isurium, Olicana, and
Cambodunum (spelt Camuulodonum by Ptolemy in error),
are represented by the Roman stations at Thornborough,
near Catterick, Aldborough, Ilkley, York, and Slack, near
Halifax. Petuaria is undetermined, but is probably Beverley.
When Ptolemy wrote his account of the Brigantes, it is
evident York had then been occupied by the Romans for
some time, as the Sixth Legion did not arrive in Britain
until A.D. 117. When Roman York was founded is un-
certain, and the probability is that it owes its foundation
1 Wright, The Celt, Roman, and Saxon, p. 286.
ROMAN YORKSHIRE 53
to Agricola, some thirty years earlier, and that it was
colonised by the Ninth Legion about the year A.D. 80.
There are two bronze tablets in the York Museum,
which carry the evidence for the Roman occupation to
a very early date. They were found in York, on the site
of the old railway station. They are about 3 inches long
by 2 inches broad, originally coated with silver, and bear
punctured inscriptions in Greek of a very remarkable
character. The tablets are votive offerings appended to
shrines by a person called Demetrius the scribe. The
first inscription is dedicated to the gods of the General's
Praetorium, which contained altars or inscriptions to
heathen deities. 1 The second inscription is dedicated to
two marine divinities, Oceanus and Tethys.
Canon Raine 2 (and the Rev. C. W. King) identify
" Demetrius the scribe with Demetrius the grammarian, a
native of Tarsus, whom Plutarch mentions in his Treatise
on the Cessation of Oracles as visiting him at Delphi on his
way home from Britain. He had been sent officially to
that country by the Emperor Domitian, perhaps to enquire
among other things into its products, especially in metals.
. . . It is quite possible that Demetrius may have played his
part in the endeavours of Agricola to teach letters and
acquaintance with useful arts to the people whom he had
helped to subdue."
There are other inscriptions which give some indication
of the early foundation of York. In 1854 part of a large
inscribed tablet of limestone was discovered in digging a
drain in King's Square, York. The inscription, which is
arranged in six lines and beautifully cut, when perfect
probably ran as follows : " The Emperor Caesar Nerva
Trajan, son of the deified Nerva, Augustus, Germanicus,
Dacicus, Chief Pontiff, invested the twelfth time with
1 This inscription has been engraved as an illustration to Farrar's Life of
Christ, ist ed., p. 764, under St. John xviii. 28, as " explanatory of the un-
willingness of the Jews to enter into Pilate's Prcetorium, lest they should be
denied by the heathen deities who were represented there."
2 Historic I^OWMS (York), p. 16.
54 MEMORIALS OF OLD YORKSHIRE
Tribunitian powers, Consul the fifth time, Father of his
country, caused this to be performed by the Ninth Legion
(called) the Spanish." It is evident from the date
assigned to this inscription (A.D. 108-9) ^ at Eboracum
was already a walled city and a place of importance.
What was the work " performed " referred to in this in-
scription ? As the stone was found at King's Square, it
may commemorate the building of the old official palace of
the emperor.
Another stone in the museum, known throughout Europe
and thought to be a monument of the first century, is a
monumental stone, 6 feet 2 inches high by 2 feet 2 inches
wide, on which is the figure of a standard-bearer in an
arched recess. In his right hand he holds the standard
or signum of his cohort ; in his left, an object about
which there has been much doubt. This stone was
found about 1686, in Trinity Gardens, Micklegate, and
the inscription may be read : " Lucius Duccius, Rufinus,
son of Lucius, of the Voltinian tribe of Vienna, Standard-
bearer of the Ninth Legion, aged twenty-eight, is buried
here."
Of the inscribed stones in the museum, two are of more
than ordinary interest, not only for the story of their dis-
covery, but as bearing upon the somewhat debatable ques-
tion whether York was a Municipium as well as a Colonia.
Camden in 1579-80 noticed a stone coffin near the city
wall. In the following century it was carried to Hull,
where it was seen by De la Pryne in 1699, and by Horsley
in 1732. It was there used as a horse-trough, at an inn
called the Coach and Horses. It then bore an inscription
which read as follows : M. VEKEC DIOGENES ///// IVIR
COL | EBOR IBIDEMQ MORT GIVES BITVRIX | CVBVS
HAEC SIBI VIWS FECIT | which has been translated :
" Marcus Verecundus Diogenes Sevir of the Colonia of
Eboracum, and who died there a citizen of Biturix Cubus,
caused these to be made for him during his lifetime." " The
Seviri formed a college, or legal corporation, the duties of
ROMAN YORKSHIRE 55
which are still imperfectly known. 1 They seem to have
been taken from the more wealthy tradesmen, and to have
much to do with public works of various kinds."
From the occurrence of the word " hcec" it was pre-
sumed that Diogenes had prepared a coffin for his wife
while she was alive, and this presumption was confirmed
by the discovery at York in 1877 of another coffin in an
excellent state of preservation, with the following inscrip-
tion : IVL FORTVNATE DOMO | SARDINIA VEREC DIO |
GENI FIDA CONIVNCTA MARITO. There can be no doubt
that we have here the tomb of Julia Fortunata, the wife of
Diogenes, the Sevir of York.
In 1872, a sarcophagus of a Decurion of the Colonia
of Eboracum was discovered near the railway bridge.
The coffin bears an inscription in faint characters : D M
FLAVI BELLATORIS DEC COL EBORACENS VIXIT ANNIS
XXYIIII MENS (rest illegible). The editors of the
Museum Catalogue, p. 54, say, " This inscription is of great
importance, as it establishes the fact that Eboracum was a
municipium, which was not previously known."
When and by whom the fortifications of York were
erected cannot be fixed with certainty. The Roman camp
was placed on the left bank of the Ouse, almost parallel
with and about 100 yards from the river. It was probably
defended at first by a rampart of earth, subsequently super-
seded by a stone wall. The camp was apparently at first
rectangular, after the usual plan of a Roman camp of about
540 yards by 480 yards. Four large towers stood at the
angles : one still remains in the museum grounds, another
was in Feasegate, a third at Monk Bar, and a fourth near
the junction of Gillygate and Lord Mayor's Walk. Probably
the camp was subsequently enlarged by an extension of the
south-east wall, thereby converting the original rectangle
1 For a discussion of the duties of Seviri see Kenrick's article in Pro-
ceedings of Y.S.P., 1855, p. 52, " On the Sarcophagus of Marcus Verecundus
Diogenes and the Civil Administration of Roman York ; " also Museum
Handbook, p. 54.
56 MEMORIALS OF OLD YORKSHIRE
into a pentagon. Little of the Roman Wall is now to be
seen above ground, but from excavations at various points
its general direction can be ascertained on three sides with
tolerable accuracy. The south-eastern side ran from Market
Street to the angle tower in the ground of the Yorkshire
Philosophical Society, known as the Multangular Tower ;
the north-western side ran along the line of the present
city wall to the corner of Gillygate and Lord Mayor's Walk,
and is buried under the mediaeval earthworks upon which
the present city wall rests ; the north-eastern side ran past
Monk Bar (where about 120 yards of it, faced with the
original ashlar blocks, may still be seen in the inner ram-
part in Mr. Lund's yard) to a point near the site of the '
old church of St. Helen's-on-the- Walls. The direction of
the south-eastern wall cannot be satisfactorily ascertained.
Although York was the chief city of Roman Britain, it
began as a camp, and a camp it remained in all its prin-
cipal features until the Romans finally withdrew from
Britain. Roman York only occupied a small part of the
site of modern York. The camp always remained a sepa-
rate area, enclosed by walls and constituting the official
part of Eboracum. The auxiliaries, camp followers, and
merchants occupied a small settlement outside the walls,
and in process of time a considerable town sprang up
on the opposite bank of the river, and on the side of
the roads leading to Tadcaster (Calcaria) and Aldborough
(Isurium). Remains of baths, temples, and villas were
found on constructing the old railway station within the
walls of mediaeval York on the south side of the river,
and the site of the new station and hotel, which stand
partly upon a Roman cemetery, has yielded many inscrip-
tions and other mementoes of burial.
Eboracum was intersected by several Roman roads.
The road to Isurium (Aldborough) passed through Bootham
Bar, which stands on the site of one of the gates of the
Roman city, and may be in some parts Roman work j
and a road in this direction has been traced, passing
INTERIOR OF THE MULTANGULAR TOWER, YORK.
ROMAN YORKSHIRE 57
along the course of Stonegate and under the site of the
choir of the Minster, which, like the Minster at Lincoln,
stands within the area of the Roman camp. Some time
ago the old Roman road, paved and concreted, was found
about six feet below the modern pavement of Stonegate,
and a peculiar channel of grooved stone was found running
down the centre of it, similar to the grooved channel on
the Roman road over Blackstone Edge.
York cannot boast of such extensive masses of Roman
work as are found at Richborough and at Brough near
Yarmouth ; but it possesses, in the Multangular Tower and
the portion of the wall adjoining on the easterly side, one
of the most perfect Roman fortifications to be found in
England.
" The tower is a shell of masonry, presenting nine faces,
45 feet in exterior diameter, and 24 feet wide at the gorge,
which is open. It is not placed, as in mediaeval works, so
as merely to cap the junction of two walls which would have
met at a right angle, but the whole angle is superseded,
as in Roman camps, by a curve of 50 feet radius, and the
tower stands in the centre of this curve, three-quarters of it
presenting its nine faces, being disengaged. The tower
and its contiguous wall are 5 feet thick. The Roman
part of the wall is about 15 feet high. It is of rubble,
faced on either front with ashlar, the blocks being from
4 to 5 inches cube. There is one band of five courses of
bricks, each brick 17 inches by II inches by 2\ inches,
that may be traced along both tower and wall, although the
surface of both has been much patched and injured. Upon
the Roman work has been placed an ashlar upper storey,
composed of larger stones, about 3 feet thick and 12 feet
high, pierced by nine cuniform loops, one in each face, and
each set in a pointed recess. This addition is of early
English or early decorated date. The wall extending south-
west from the tower for 53 yards is of the same date,
material, and workmanship. Both having escaped destruc-
tion in the post-Roman period, were incorporated into the
58 MEMORIALS OF OLD YORKSHIRE
defences of the later city. The wall on the other side of
the tower, running eastwards, has been partially destroyed,
and is now only 4 feet high, and at a short distance
becomes buried in a later bank. This part of the wall was
evidently destroyed before the earthwork was thrown up,
for not only is it buried within the bank, but the wall
of the mediaeval city is here found 4 feet in front of it, and
in other places many feet above it." l
A considerable portion of the Roman wall near St.
Leonard's Place and Bootham Bar was removed to make
the present entrance into the city. It was then found that
the wall stood upon piles of oak 2 feet 6 inches in length,
and on these was raised a mass of concrete 2 feet 3 inches
in depth, then an ashlar wall of stone with courses of brick
near its centre. The wall was about 4 feet 10 inches thick,
diminishing gradually to 4 feet at the height of 16 feet.
It was furnished internally with guard-rooms and turrets,
still to be seen under the rampart behind St. Leonard's
Place, and strengthened by angle towers, now buried under
the rampart of the city wall.
ISURIUM. 2 Aldborough, on the Ure, is no doubt the
ancient Isurium mentioned by Ptolemy as one of the towns
of the Brigantes, and by other writers as their capital and
the seat of Queen Cartismandua. It is twice mentioned
in the Itinerary, where in one place it is called " Isu
Brigantium." There seem to be indications that Isurium
was originally a more important place than York, and
that the second and fifth Itinera originally ran direct to
Aldborough, leaving York to the right, and that it was
only when York became the headquarters of the Romans
that the routes of the troops to the north were directed
to pass through York.
1 G. T. Clark " On the Defences of York," in Yorks. A. and 7\ Journal,
vol. iv. p. 7.
2 See " Reliquiae Isurianse," by H. Ecroyd Smith, 1852, and "A Survey
of Isurium," by the late Dr. A. H. D. Leadman, Yorkshire Archaeological
Journal, vol. xii. p. 4 12 -
ROMAN YORKSHIRE 59
But be that as it may, Isurium was at all events the
second place of importance in Yorkshire under the Romans,
and in no other place except York, have so many extensive
remains of Roman civilisation been found. After the
Romans withdrew from Britain, Isurium continued to
flourish, until about 766, when Higden (Polychronica)
asserts that Isurium was burnt by the Danes, and it
is said that traces of fire are still visible upon parts
of the walls.
The Roman camp was walled like that at York, but
without angle towers. It formed an oblong parallelogram,
irregular in shape on the north, the length being about
1940 feet, and the breadth about 1320, and enclosing an
area of about 60 acres. 1 The walls can still be traced,
and vary from n to 16 feet in thickness. They are built
of red sandstone mixed with magnesian limestone. Some
of the exposed portions in Mr. Lawson's grounds are in
excellent preservation.
Isurium was intersected by two Roman roads, Watling
Street and Ermine Street, and appears to have had no
gate to the north. A mile from the east gate is a piece
of Roman road, about 500 yards in length, which, Dr.
Leadman says, is " the sole remaining bit in the district."
The church at Aldborough stands in the very centre of
the camp, and is partly built with Roman material, and
has built into the walls a figure of Mercury.
Numerous tesselated pavements, in all about twenty-
five, have been discovered at Aldborough, but only seven
remain in situ ; five are preserved, but not in situ, three
others have been sold to museums. One of the very finest,
representing a she-wolf with two children on the ground
under her, is now in the museu