York Guides

At the most northern point of lowland Britain lies the Vale of York. Beyond the vale hills mark the approaches to the Border counties - lands which have been fought over for centuries. The vast glacier that carved out the vale left behind only a poor soil supporting a variety of vegetation varying from forest to heathlands and swamp. When the glacier melted it left behind a moraine which provided a natural causeway across the lowlands of the vale from the Wolds to the Pennines. The River Ouse and its many tributaries drained the Vale and some prehistoric settlements may have been sited at the point where the Ouse found its way through the causeway. In 1902-03 the mound of York Castle was opened in order to reinforce the foundations of Clifford's Tower. A skeleton was found well below the old ground level, buried in a crouching position in a sandstone slab coffin.

Initially the Roman's invaded southern England and advanced north but halted along a rough line from the Bristol Channel to the Humber Estuary. They consolidated their conquest in the south for the best part of the first century AD before moving north again beyond the Humber. Although a permanent Iron Age settlement at York may be doubted, archaeological evidence makes it clear that the tribes living in the Wolds on either side of the Humber were similar culturally. The Roman advance faced its main opposition further north. It was the Ninth Legion of the Roman army that was moved up from Lincoln to a new fortress at Eboracum - Roman York. A new road network was created for rapid access to trouble spots. The river system at York was what made it so fine for a fortress, providing for another means of rapid travel and way of relieving the fortress if cut off by land. The fortress was sited on the North Bank of the Ouse, its centre a little south of the site of the present Minster. It was a standard Roman pattern, rectangular with rounded corners and internal watch towers at regular intervals. North of the Minster, the Roman walls remain to a fair height although hidden by the later earth bank that is part of the foundation of the medieval walls. The Multi-angular tower in the Museum Gardens is the most spectacular part of the walls to be seen. Petergate and Stonegate as they are today follow the lines of the two main streets crossing the fortress.

By the third century AD a small settlement had grown up on the other side of the Ouse. East of this settlement and the fortress was an area used for burials. Inscribed Roman stone coffins along with lead and wooden coffins have been found in the area of York Castle and Tombs have been found across the river from the castle at Baile Hill. Emperor Constantine Chlorus died in York in 306 AD and his son Constantine was proclaimed emperor by the garrison. This was the Emperor Constantine who went on to re-found Rome and become the first Christian Emperor. 

A church was built at Eoforwic (York) for Paulinus, a missionary helper of St Augustine, in 627 AD. Otherwise there is little evidence of any Saxon settlement, apart from a silvered bowl and some weaving weights. These too were found at the York Castle site. Vikings were raiding the eastern coasts of England and York succumbed to a Danish Army in 866 AD. The site developed into an important trading centre, for the Vikings were primarily traders only resorting to plunder when forced to do so by circumstances. The city of York stills retains many Scandinavian place names dating back to its Viking history, even the name York derives from the Danish Jorvik. Traces of wharves have been excavated in Hungate, and eleventh century finds were discovered when the Friends Meeting House was built only a hundred yards from the castle. These were mainly workshop waste, with worked bone examples of pins, combs and flutes, amber and glass beads, pot lamps and wooden spoons. A carved oxbone with Viking designs was found on the castle site. The city was ruled by different Viking and Saxon groups, changing hands half a dozen times. But by 1066 York was under the control of the ruling Saxon house of Wessex, yet had trading and personal links with Scandinavia as strong as those with southern England.

The Monarch Edward the Confessor died in early 1066 leading to Harold Godwinson taking the crown, however his brother Tostig was not happy about this and joined his forces with the King of Norway to invade via the Humber. The new King Harold had to march his armies north to defeat the Norseman at Stamford Bridge only to then immediately march south to face the invasion of William, Duke of Normandy.