Derventio
DERVE´NTIO in Britain, mentioned in the first Itinerary as being seven miles from York, in the direction of Delgovitia (Market Weighton). Some place it on the Derwent.
[R.G.L]Mentioned as Derbentione in the Ravenna Cosmography (name from the Celtic name of the river Derwent). The earliest Roman occupation of Derventio almost certainly took the form of a fort on the high ground W of the Derwent. The date of its foundation is obscure, perhaps A.D. 55-65. Later, in the governorship of Cn. Julius Agricola (A.D. 78-85), a new fort site was adopted on low ground across the river. The only certain information, from the road pattern of this area, is that the site was an important junction of N-S and E-W routes.
Occupation is attested during the Hadrianic and Antonine periods and may well have been military in character. In the 3d or early 4th c. a circuit of defenses incorporating a stone wall was built, enclosing 2.4 ha; their purpose is not clear. Outside them to the N, Ryknield Street was lined with stone buildings, presumably in an extramural vicus. A group of pottery kilns 0.8 km to the E were active in the early 2d c., producing leadglazed vessels as well as more common wares. Finds from the area are in the Derby Museum and Art Gallery.
BIBLIOGRAPHYW. Stukeley, Itinerarium Curiosum I (1776) 85; G. Webster, Derbyshire Archaeological Journal 81 (1961) 85ff; M. Todd, ibid. 87 (1967) 70ff.
M. TODDAgricolan fort on the site of an earlier legionary fortress, partly covered by a Roman town and a mediaeval castle and mansion, and just W of old Malton Priory Church. Mentioned twice as Derventione on Iter I (Ant. It. and Not. dig). The site covered a crossing of the river Derwent. The fort wall was laid on a foundation of clay and stone, and well-preserved gates with guardrooms still stood at the time of excavation. The pits of the earlier fortress lay outside the fort, and yielded an abundance of mid 1st c. pottery and tiles. This fortress may have been built by Petcilius Cericles on his advance from Lincoln to York.
The fortress was destroyed and corn from the granaries laid along the ramparts and systematically burned. This carbonized layer divides the earlier and later periods of the fort's history. Later the fortress showed signs of decay: burials were common even in the guardrooms. The later town was built along the road to the ford and on the other bank through Norton. Workshops and stores were common, and there were potters' kilns in Norton. The earliest buildings were of wood, but some of the later buildings were of stone and had mosaic floors.
G. F. WILMOTA fort for a milliary cohort or cavalry ala, probably a Trajanic foundation with occupation continuing until the late 4th c. Inscriptions record the presence of Legio VIII and, in the mid 3d c., the Cuneus Frisonum Aballavensium Phillipianorum. There was a civil settlement.
BIBLIOGRAPHYE. B. Birley, “Roman Papcastle,” Trans. Cumberland and Westmorl and Arch. Soc. ser. 2, 63 (1963) 96-125; D. Charlesworth, “Excavations at Papcastle 1961-62,” ibid. 65 (1965) 102-14.
D. CHARLESWORTH