York Historic Environment Record

NMR Information:

This camp has been re-assessed in connection with RCHME's survey and publication of Roman Camps in England. The following descriptive account is taken from the published text. Previously recorded with camp 1 (SE 55 SE 19); now assigned unique identity.
The slight remains of two camps have been recorded about 2.5 km N of the fortress at York (Eburacum). If the reports of 18th-century antiquaries are accepted, a total of up to eight camps may once have existed in the general vicinity (Lukis 1887, 352, 380(1a); Ramm 1953, 15-16 (1b)). The surviving camps are situated on level, low-lying ground, at about 14 m above OD, and are cut by field boundaries consisting of old hedges and deep drainage ditches; they have also been severely reduced by ploughing and mutilated by the construction of some outlying buildings and ancillary works of the former Second World War airfield to the W. The greater part of Camp 1, containing the only sections of the defences that are now surveyable as earthworks, falls within Bootham Stray, a medieval common; Camp 2 and the N portion of Camp 1 lie within what were until the early 18th century 'half-year lands', that is ground that was arable for half the year and pasture for half (Ramm 1953, 15 (see auth 1b)). This land use has led to the different levels of survival of the various elements of the earthworks.
The earthworks of Camp 2, which lies less than 200 m W of its neighbour, have been almost entirely levelled by ploughing and by mole-drains set at 4 m intervals. Faint indications survive, usually consisting of little more than the outer scarp of the bank; this has a maximum width of about 7 m and is no more than 0.1 m high. There is no trace of a ditch. Ground swellings and slight shadows on air photographs (NLAP SE 5954/1-2 (1c)) suggest that the gates on the NE, SW and SE were defended by internal claviculae (Ramm 1953, 18, 20 see auth 1b)). The same was also probably true of the NW side, the bank of which, probably mutilated during airfield construction, is marked only by a slight scarp, 30 m long, towards its W end. Internally, the camp thus seems to have measured about 107 m from NE to SW by about 81 m transversely and would thus have enclosed an area of 0.9 ha (2.1 acres). Full information is included in the NMR Archive. (1)

Roman camps on Bootham Stray, scheduled. (2)

Published reference. (3)

Sources:
Bootham Stray 2/pencil survey
Scheduled Monument Notification 23-Mar-01
1a VIRTUAL CATALOGUE ENTRY TO SUPPORT NAR MIGRATION Lukis, W C. (ed) 1887. The Family Memoirs of the Rev William Stukeley, MD and of William Stukeley, Roger and Samuel Gale, etc Vol III. Surtees Soc 80 (1885)
1b Yorkshire Philosophical Society : annual reports 15-20 Ramm, H G. 1952. 'Roman Camps on Bootham Stray, York'.
1c Aerial photograph NLAP SE 5954/1-2
1 Roman camps in England : the field archaeology Humphrey Welfare and Vivien Swan
2 County list of Scheduled Monuments : March 1996 35 North Yorkshire English Heritage
3 Roman camps in England : the field archaeology 135-6 Humphrey Welfare and Vivien Swan