Down the steps at Bootham Bar and across Exhibition Square we find ourselves in the museum gardens, home to the ruins of St. Mary's Abbey and the Multangular Tower. This is all that remains of the Roman fort of Eboracum (the Roman name for York) and dates back to the 4th century making it the oldest construction in the city.

If you look at the external photo you can see the smaller stones stop just past half-way. These are Roman with the larger ones being medieval. To the right behind the tree is part of the fortress main wall with it's distinctive band of red brick used for decorative purposes. The photo below shows the back of the tower which was excavated in 1839.

The coffins are Roman but were not discovered here as the Romans buried their dead outside the city walls. To the right you can see the other part of the wall which would have joined onto the tower. The medieval wall behind it was not built on top of it and would have ran to Bootham bar. Just behind the spot from where the photo was taken is an even more impressive section of Roman wall which was only excavated in the 1960's, and shows not only the way in which the walls were constructed but also, practically in mint condition a small tower built where there was a breach in the wall.

Behind this built by the archeologists who uncovered it is a first class example of the different levels of York from Roman to Viking through to Norman and Medieval. This is definitely York's best kept secret!

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