Roman York

[Northern Neil]

York (EBVRACVM) was apparantly given the status of COLONIA in the late 3rd century. It possesses an impressive set of city walls built in Mediaeval times, some of which incorporate the legionary fortress walls.

 

Although the legionary fortress walls are well attested, there has always been some debate as to the extent of the colonia and various maps and reconstructions have been drawn up suggesting that other parts of the mediaeval wall circuit overly the walls of the Colonia. ( http://www.yorkarchaeology.co.uk/secrets/roman.htm ). To date, however, this remains speculative, and unless new discoveries have been made of which I am not aware, there is no evidence of structures such as theatres.

 

The reconstruction on the link is the conventional view; however, there remains little evidence apart from a scattering of buildings to suggest that the area south of the river was anything more than the civil settlement of the Legionary fortress itself. I thus believe that mostly people are looking for something that simply isn't there.

 

My view is that the Colonia and the Legionary Fortress are in fact one and the same. During the time that York was given the title of 'Colonia' the army was undergoing re-structuring, and the strength of a legion, I believe, was reduced to a thousand. This would suggest to me that suddenly a lot of space in the fortress was freed up for civilian use, and that thereafter it assumed a duel civil and military role.

 

Has anyone else got any ideas on this?

Edited March 28, 2006 by Northern Neil

[Pertinax]

Quite tricky , the problem is twofold-we know Eborascum had a long period of occupation and was a thriving international trade centre after its initial usage as a "jumping off point: , 1. the physical fabric underwent repeated changes (Wacher-1974: Towns of Roman Britain is a good thorough intro to the various possible phases) 2. River levels changed dramatically within the span of occupation and , for instance , the original harbour works were swamped.

The Colonia might well be a strategic hub-and the last convivial outpost of urban civilisation heading north toward the hadrianic/antonine frontiers , but I agree with NN I tend to visualise it as a trading Entrepot first and an admin/military centre secondly-especially in its "late " period development.

 

For the uninitiated I have an "Eboracvm " gallery posted, I will add a shot of the fortress/minster ground plan model and a shot of the difference in levels to illustrate how deep down the Roman level is-so much may be hidden.If you check the "multangular tower" shots the Roman level is vividly seen because of its quite striking materials.

Edited March 26, 2006 by Pertinax