York Historic Environment Record

NMR information:

SE60075202. A Roman interval tower (SW5 on the key plan) stood on the site now cleared for redevelopment on the corner at Museum Street and Lendal. Re-excavated in 1960.

There are no visible remains of the tower. (2)

Excavations by the York Archaeological Trust between 1972-5 on the site of interval tower SW5. Little stratification survived of Roman levels. However, C1st defences were a ditch and turf-revetted rampart, while tow post-pits probably indicated a 6-post timber interval tower and, with a similar tower discovered in 1956-7, provided the first direct evidence of the spacing of those early towers.

A replacement ditch further to the south-west may have accompanied the insertion of a stone wall into the rampart front, possibly early in the C2nd. A large stone building was built behind the tower and over the intervallum road in the late 3rd-early 4th century and the external ditch was redug, the curtain wall was rebuilt, and the massive polygonal-fronted masonry interval tower SW5 was incorporated as one of 6 similar towers along this side of the fort. It is the first to have been completely excavated. (3)

1 An inventory of the historical monuments in the City of York. Volume I: Eburacum: Roman York
2 copies. 1962 Royal Commission on Historical Monuments, England 171
2 Field Investigators Comments F1 RW Emsley 05-Jun-1963
3 The archaeology of York
Most volumes held York Archaeological Trust 93 3/2, 1977

NMR, NMR data (Unassigned). SYO2214.

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