History of York

The tower at the west corner of the legionary fortress.  It was one of the two corner-towers of the huge stone wall that looked down onto the river.

The small stones in the lower half are Roman whereas the upper half was reconstructed in the medieval period.

The tower probably dates from the early third century, though it may have been built later.

Its style, protruding from the fortress wall rather than sitting behind it, was a development designed to enable defenders to fire down on anyone attacking the wall itself.

In practice, the Roman occupiers probably never expected an attack on Eboracum.  The fortress was mainly a base from which to control the region.