99 



but which, as Mr. Davios was the first to point out, seems 

 formerly to have borne tlie name of Siward houe. The site 

 of both these tumuli must have been very near to the Roman 

 road between Eburacum and the nearest station to the east — 

 Derventio.* 



Drake observes of Lamel hill, " I take this hill, as several 

 others around the city, to have been originally raised for Roman 

 tumuli, though they afterwards served to plant windmills upon." 



Lamel hill is noted as having afforded a site for a battery, 

 which was placed here by the parliamentary army under Fair- 

 fax, during the siege of York in 1644. The contemporary 

 wTiterSjf to whom we are indebted for what we know of this 

 siege, do not mention the mound under the name by which it 

 is now known ; and the first author who, so far as I am aware, 

 speaks of " Lamel hill " is Drake ; who says " it must have 

 took its name from the windmill which stood on it, Lamel Hill 

 being no more than le meul, the miln hill, called so by the 

 Normans.J" This derivation appears very questionable. 



Lamel Hill has a diameter, from east to west, of about 110 

 feet, and of about 125 feet, from north to south. Its base, 

 which measures 375 feet in circumference, has therefore a cir- 

 cular form, inclining to an oval. At the summit, is a tolerably 

 level area, having a circumference of about 100 feet. The 

 mound is situated somewhat on the southern slope of the 

 higher ground between York and Heslington, and has, con- 

 sequently, a greater elevation above the surrounding fields on 

 the south side than it has on the north ; its height, on the 

 east, west, and north sides, varying from about 14^ to 15|- feet, 

 whilst, on the south side, it is not less than 22^ feet. Its eleva- 

 tion, above the summer level of the Ouse, is about 90 feet. 



In digging over the mound, a few human bones had 

 occasionally been throAvn up, but nothing further was known 

 of it as a place of sepulture. During the late spring, the 



• See WellbeloTed's Eburacnm, and Newton's Map of British and Roman 

 Yorkshire. 



+ Rnshworth ; Sir H. Slingsby ; and Hildyard (by Torre). 

 J Eboracum, 1736, p. 251. 



