York Historic Environment Record

The alignment of the road is based on observations made from near the probable bridgehead across the Ouse (observed during the Wellington Row excavations), several antiquarian and nineteenth century sightings within the colonia walls (RCHMY1, 3) and from several encounters in Blossom Street itself. The road was located during the 2003 excavations on the site of the forrner Starting Gate pub, near the junction of Tadcaster Road and St Helen's Road.

Ground-works at 1 The Crescent encountered cobbles interpreted as Road 10 in the 1870s and it was also recorded beneath the Odeon cinema in the 1930s (RCHMY1, 3;). Excavations conducted by LP Wenham between 1953-1955 identified cobbled surfaces which were interpreted as Road 10, along wfth a junction wfth a road leading into the Holgate area just 100m to the north-east of the current Al 036/A59 junction. Subsequent excavatons by YAT at 14-20 Blossom Street found further evidence for metalled surfaces in the area excavated by Wenham, they could not be securely identified as the Calcaria road, suggesting instead a narrow lane aligned north-south. No road or associated structures found during excavations at 28-40 Blossom St (YAT SYO 1218).

At 27 Tanner Row the road was recorded as being 9.5m wide with six successive surfaces. The road seems to have gone out of use in the 4th century or later.

Not noted at Driffield Terrace (SYO475 2003).

Road located in 1999 beneath 37 Tanner Row (MAP).

NRHE information:

RR 28c Roman Road. Tadcaster - York.
This road was laid upon a direct alignment from Tadcaster to Middlethorpe where it turned more to the north and directly to York.
The present road represents it from beyond the River Wharfe as far as Islington, after which the course is derelict to Street Houses and again for a mile beyond; the present road swinging away to the south, and then north of the alignment and only rejoining it after Copmanthorpe. The alignment is well marked by either lanes or hedgerows with considerable remains of the agger, which at its best is 30 feet wide and 2 feet high with much stone and pebbles visible at some points.
The road was exposed as a surface of gravel with a few cobbles, 21 feet 8 inches at its fullest width with a very slight camber, just to the west of Street Houses during building work (It was also found at Hob Moor Lane near York as a tightly rammed gravel and clay layer, 67 feet 6 inches wide). Beyond Street Houses the agger appears beside a hedgerow and after a mile the lane from Colton to Copmanthorpe, obviously raised on a slight agger, takes up the line. At Copmanthorpe the main road marks the alignment, turning more to the north near Middlethorpe and directly to York. Through Dringhouses the original course appears to follow the Tadcaster Road as far as the Methodist Church. Beyond this it lies a little to the west of the present road as proved by excavations in the entrance to St Helen's Road. Slight turns seem to have been made just south of St George's Place and at the top of the Mount, after which the road ran a straight course to the Roman bridge over the Ouse and into the fort. (1)

Road 10, approaching York from Tadcaster diverge at the Methodist Chapel, Dringhouses (SE 586 495), the modern road making a slight bow to the east. The old alignment was found in 1902 in St Helen's Road (SE 587 497) and in 1953 part of its cobbling and ditch were seen during the building of No 278 Tadcaster Road. In 1879 the road was found composed of cobbles laid on `concrete', north-west of Blossom Street under No1 The Crescent (SE 5958 5132). On the opposite side of The Crescent it was seen again in 1936 during the building of the Odeon Cinema (SE 596 514) and in 1953 the road was sectioned 40 yards to the north-east (SE 5965 5141 - see also RR 8a (LINEAR 290). The position of these discoveries fix the alignment from Blossom Street to the Ouse, passing south of Toft Green and diagonally across Tanner Row to the river opposite the Guildhall where the head of the Roman bridge was discovered in 1893. On the north-east bank of the river the road leading to the south-west gate of the fortress has been found. The junction with Road 2 from Brough (RR 2e - LINEAR 272) and Road 5 from the north-west (RR 801 - LINEAR 287) lay outside the fortress, between the river and the gate. (2)

See Linear Archive File for further details. (3)

1 Roman roads in Britain 416-7 1973 Thomas Codrington
2 An inventory of the historical monuments in the City of York. Volume I: Eburacum: Roman York 3 1962 Royal Commission on Historical Monuments, England
3 VIRTUAL CATALOGUE ENTRY TO SUPPORT NAR MIGRATION Ordnance Survey Linear Archive File RR 28c in NMRC

RCHME, 1962, Inventory of the Historical Monuments in the City of York, Volume 1 Eboracum (Bibliographic reference). SYO62.

MAP, 1999, 37 Tanner Row York (Unpublished document). SYO704.

YAT, 2009, 28 - 40 Blossom Street (Unpublished document). SYO1218.

2015, 17 Tadcaster Road (Unpublished document). SYO1749.

On-Site Archaeology, 2015, Roman House 4-8 Rougier Street (Report). SYO1652.

York Archaeological Trust, 2019, Archaeological Investigations at Minster Car Hire, Micklegate (Unpublished document). SYO2363.