York Historic Environment Record

NMR Information:

[No 1 centred SE59895490, No2 SE59655485]
"Two Ro. camps were observed in air photographs & then surveyed on Bootham Stray .... The first camp enclosed about 3 acres: the S & W. sides had survived, & 3 entrances in the centre of the north & south side & just to the north of the centre of the east side; the west side was covered by modern boundaries. Each entrance was covered by a clavicula. In section A-B the rampart was found to be of stiff boulder clay about 1'10" above Roman level; the berm measured 18" & the one ditch, 4'8" wide at the lip, was V-shaped, 3'8" deep with in a square drainage channel. It had been filled with silt for half its depth, & no dating evidence was found. All that survives of the second is in a pasture field which had been ploughed in pre-enclosure days; it measured 400' E-W, & was apparently smaller than the first one. It is suggested that they had been made for army exercise, like the Cawthorn camps & that at Haltwhistle". (1)

As above. Ro camps in this area are mentioned by Stukeley (a) & Drake, who on one occasion mentions three (b), on another seven or eight (c). Drake appears to have planned one, but the plan is lost. The site is very damp & tactically bad, & the fact that it was visited at least twice & perhaps seven or eight times suggsts that they were practice camps. Plan, section & ills. (2)

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. NAR Number SE 55 SE 19 now unique to camp 1; see SE 55 SE 66 for camp 2.
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 (3a)); Ramm 1953, 15-16(see auth 2)). 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 2)). This land use has led to the different levels of survival of the various elements of the earthworks.
The defences of Camp 1 survive at best as a broad bank, 6 m to 7 m wide and up to 0.3 m high, although the average height is only 0.1 m. No trace of a ditch can be seen. Overall, the camp measures about 150 m from N to S by 85 m transversely, enclosing an area of about 1 ha (2.4 acres). The earthworks of a gate survive on the S, with an internal clavicula, but air photographs (NLAP SE 5954/1-2 (3b)) suggest the former presence of similar gates on the E and N. A fourth gate may be postulated on the W. The E gate, the probable site of which has been disturbed in recent times (NLAP F21 58/5515/38 (3c)), seems to have been close to the centre of that side but the camp probably faced N. In 1952 an excavation trench was dug across the S defences to the E of the entrance (Ramm 1953, 19-20 (see auth 2)). The bank of heavy, stiff clay was found to have been 5.5 m wide; the V-shaped ditch, separated from the bank by a berm, 0.4 m wide, was about 1.3 m wide and 1.2 m deep.
Along the E side the bank has been worn down by a track running along its length. Near the SE angle the footings of a modern L-shaped building cross the line of the ditch have encroached upon the bank (NLAP F21 58/5515/38 (see auth 3c)). Further to the N, in the corner of the field, the line of the defences is covered by a spoil-heap. Regular ploughing has reduced the N defences to an almost imperceptible swelling. Air photographs (NLAP SE 5954/1-2 (see auth 3b)) show the N rampart as a soil mark, and the inturned clavicula is clearly visible. Of the W defences, only the S section is traceable as an earthwork for about 50 m. To the N of this the course of the rampart is overlain by a brick building. The line of the bank enters the adjoining fields at the junction of three ditches; this would also be the likely position for the W gate but here no earthworks survive. Full information is included in the NMR Archive. (3-3c)

Published reference. (4)

Roman camps on Bootham Stray, scheduled. (5)

SE 5988 5488. Scheduling revised, 05-JAN-2001 (6)

Sources:
Bootham Stray 1/ink survey
Bootham Stray 1/pencil survey
1a Oral information, correspondence (not archived) or staff comments Inf H G Ramm
2a Publications of the Surtees Society 180 111, 80 Stukeley: Letters & Diaries III Surtees Soc LXXX 180
2b VIRTUAL CATALOGUE ENTRY TO SUPPORT NAR MIGRATION Drake: MS note in his own copy of Eboracum 37
2c VIRTUAL CATALOGUE ENTRY TO SUPPORT NAR MIGRATION Drake: Letter to Stukeley 19.6.1742 in Stukeley: Letters etc III 351-2
3A Publications of the Surtees Society 80, 1885 W C. (ed) 1887. The Family Memoirs of the Rev William Stukeley, M D and of William Stukeley, Roger and Samuel Gale,
3B Aerial photograph NLAP SE 5954/1-2
3C Aerial photograph NLAP F21 58/5515/38
1 The journal of Roman studies 112 43, 1953 Society for Promotion of Roman Studies
2 Yorkshire Philosophical Society : annual reports 15-20 1952 (Presented Apr 1953) (H.G. Ramm)
3 VIRTUAL CATALOGUE ENTRY TO SUPPORT NAR MIGRATION Humphrey Welfare and Vivien Swan/1994/RCHME: Roman Camps in England Project.
4 Roman camps in England : the field archaeology 135-6 Humphrey Welfare and Vivien Swan
5 County list of Scheduled Monuments : March 1996 56 North Yorkshire English Heritage
6 Scheduled Monument Notification EH Scheduled Monument Revision, 05-JAN-2001

WYAS, 1989, Bootham Stray, Roman Camp (Unpublished document). SYO2477.