ROMAN EXCAVATIONS AT YORK 53 



1926, July — October. The work at the north-east corner was com- 

 pleted and an examination was made of the south-west corner tower, 

 better known as the Multangular Tower, in the grounds of the Yorkshire 

 Philosophical Society. 



1927, September — October. The fortress wall was laid bare in three 

 places, one on the west, two on the north side. 



1928, September — October. A search for an outer defence line on 

 the west was conducted in the gardens of the Territorial Association 

 and of the School for the Blind. 



Historical Results of the Excavations. 



First Period. — ^The fortress was founded in the governorship of Quintus 

 Petilius Cerealis, A.D. 71-74 — probably in 71 . The area of this first fortress 

 has not yet been determined, the line of the north and east defences alone 

 having been discovered. It is hardly likely that it was intended to house 

 two legions. The probability is that it enclosed an area of 60 to 70 acres. 

 The defences consisted of a double ditch and an earthen rampart sur- 

 mounted by a strong wooden fence. The internal buildings were probably 

 of wood. It is quite possible that the first fortress may have been intended 

 to be temporary, and that Cerealis and his successors planned to erect 

 a permanent fortress elsewhere, but in any case the choice was good, as 

 the site commanded the tribal crossing of the Ouse and had good water 

 communications. The earthen rampart, with pestholes, was found in 

 six of our trenches. Remains of wooden structures of the first fortress 

 period were discovered when erecting the new York Public Library, near 

 the south-western corner tower. 



Second Period. — An imperial inscription, dated a.d. 108-109, found in 

 1854 on the site of the eastern gateway, recording some work accom- 

 plished by the ninth Legion, which then garrisoned the fortress, is generally 

 taken as dating the first stone fortress wall. A fragment of this wall was 

 found by us in 1925, and part of a barrack block of the same date was 

 discovered in 1927. York had now become a stone fortress. 



About A.D. 115 occurs the mysterious disappearance of the ninth Legion ; 

 the presumption is that somewhere it was trapped and annihilated. If 

 this was the case it would be expected that some traces of the disaster 

 would be found in the fortress. Dateable objects found in relationship 

 with the walls of the north-east corner tower favour a date for its con- 

 struction early in the second century a.d. The fortress wall at this point 

 dates from late in the second or early in the third century. The tower 

 walls may, therefore, belong to the first stone fortress of a.d. 108-109, ^^ 

 they may be a reconstruction c. a.d. 120. It is possible that the tower 

 was damaged after the annihilation of the garrison. Further, a few 

 fragments survive of what must have been an important inscription, 

 found outside the western gateway of the fortress. This inscription, 

 containing the titles of the Emperor Hadrian, who visited Britain a.d. 120, 

 quite possibly recorded work done on the western gateway and defences. 

 If this was the case, then they may have received damage when York was 

 without a legion. Further, a leg of a gilded bronze statue of an emperor 



