York Historic Environment Record

Roman temporary camp, partially surviving as an earthwork. 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. 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 andancillary 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. 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 suggest the former presence of similar gates on the E and N. A fourth gate may be postulated on the W.