For Roman Emperors and the Empire’s legendary “lost” Ninth Legion, York was the most important city in the north of Britain.

York owes its foundations to the Roman invaders, although they obviously weren’t the first settlers in the area.

The multangular tower in Museum Gardens, once part of a Roman fortress

What is now Yorkshire was originally inhabited by two tribes of ancient Britons: the Parisi in the east and the Brigantes in the north. The nearest thing the Brigantes had to a capital was roughly where modern-day Sherburn-in-Elmet, between York and Leeds, stands: there, locals proudly boast that their village was the first Capital of England.

That changed in about 70AD when Petilius Cerialis, commander of Rome’s Ninth Hispanic Legion, chose to build a fortress on a site just above the confluence of the Foss and Ouse rivers. It was to be the Roman Empire’s headquarters in their campaigns against the Pict people in north Britain (modern-day Scotland).

The Romans called the site Eboracum (meaning “the place of the yew trees”), which over the centuries became Eoforwick to the Saxons, then Jorvik to the Vikings, before eventually becoming York.

York’s old names survive in modern-day placenames to this day: the “-acum” of Eboracum became Acomb, York’s large western suburb, while “Eoforwick” lived on in the name of Earswick, a village to the North, and subsequently New Earswick, the model village founded by the Rowntree family of chocolate makers. Ebor, of course, survives principally to most people in the name of York and Europe’s richest handicap horse race.

The word “Ebor” also took on a greater significance as Christianity developed in Roman Britain. A man named Eborius appeared as Bishop of York at the Council of Arles, which was summoned in 314AD by the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great.

Constantine had earlier been crowned Emperor after his predecessor, Constantius I, had died in 306AD in the city of York while defending the province of Britain from the Scots in the north.

To this day, Archbishops of York sign their names with the suffix “Ebor” – John Sentamu, the current occupant of Bishopthorpe Palace, signs himself “Sentamu Ebor” on all official documents.

Roman York: a fortress on the Ouse
By the time Constantine became Caesar of the Roman Empire in the west the fortress and town of Eboracum would have been well established. A multi-angular tower can be seen in the Museum Gardens which is built on and marks the western corner of the old Roman fortress.

A Roman gateway to the north of the city once stood where Bootham Bar now stands. From this a north-south road (the Via Principalis), roughly following the line of Petergate, bisected the fortress.

The northern corner of the Roman fort stood roughly where the modern-day wall turns at the corner of Gillygate and Lord Mayor’s Walk. The Eastern corner of Roman York stood near where the medieval Merchant Taylors’ Hall now stands, on Aldwark (a street whose name literally means Old Fortification).

The Roman city (or fortress) walls would have run in a straight line through modern-day King’s Square (where the southern gate of the Via Principia stood), Parliament Street and Coney Street to the River Ouse, where they would turned northwards.

At the river stood another gate, at the end of the city’s main east-west street, the Via Praetoria. A sign on the wall of Harkers, a wine bar in St Helen’s Square, shows where this street used to run, down the line of what is now Stonegate to the river, where it joined a bridge across the Ouse leading to the civilian settlement on the South Bank.

The Roman Ninth Legion’s headquarters were in the key building in this Roman fortress, the Principia. This stood on ground now partly occupied by York Minster: evidence of its existence can be seen in the Minster’s undercroft.

Tales are frequently told of the ghosts of Roman soldiers swanning about underneath the Minster as if they owned the place – which, of course, they once did.

If you want to see some Roman remains without having to pay the Minster’s entrance fees, however, just visit the Roman Bath pub in St Sampson’s Square, where a preserved Roman Bath can be seen for the price of a pint.

Civvy Street: civilian Eboracum and the first Micklegate Run
South of the river, in an area running from the top of modern Micklegate to the present-day Aviva buildings, was the civilian camp that served Roman Eboracum.

Remains have been found of a forum, public baths, a basilica and several temples and houses in this area, dating back to the mid-second century onwards. Therefore while north of the river was the military centre of the Roman Empire in North Britain, the business of everyday life was carried on to the south and west of the city.

The pattern established in Roman times has been carried on to the present day: while the north bank of the Ouse has always been grander and been home to the offices of church, local and even national government, the southern and western parts have always been earthier and less glamorous – perhaps more northern; some would say more real.

The Micklegate Run has long been a popular drinking tour in modern-day York with local drinkers, visitors and stag and hen parties. It’s tempting to think that an earlier version was carried out by Roman civilians while the generals and politicians schmoozed and schemed in the fortress across the river.

Go to Part II: York in the Dark Ages and Viking York.