Millington (Delgovicia?) Settlement

Minor Settlement and Temple Or Shrine

Millington may be the site of  Delgovicia of the Romans although it could also be linked to Goodmanham, Londesborough, and Market Weighton respectively. Remains have been discovered here which prove that, if it be not the site of Delgovicia, it was at least occupied by the Romans.

The Suspected Circular Temple at Millington

About half-a-mile north-east of the village were discovered, many years ago, the foundations of a circular building, 45 feet in diameter, supposed to have been the temple of Diana, Roman pavements, tiles, coins, and various other relics of antiquity. There are traces of a strong camp, which has been defended by immense outworks from 60 to 90 feet in height, carried indiscriminately over hills and valleys to Garrowby Hill.

MILLINGTON , East Yorkshire: Pavements, tiles, coins of Titus and Gratian, two column bases, 6 ft. fragment of column, two rectangular and one square buildings, also circular foundation 45 ft. diameter, with walls c.5 ft. thick, all in group beside stream. Sounds like massive temple with other shrines or outbuildings.” (Lewis, p.86)

It would appear that this site perhaps represents a Romano-British rural temple on the tribal boundary between the Parisi in Humberside and the Brigantes of northern Britain.

Classical References to Millington

Delgovicia or Delgovitia was a Romano-British town in Britain and possibly located at the site of Millington. The earliest known mention of the suspected posting station occurs in the Antonine Itinerary of the late-second century. The First British Itinerary is entitled “from the frontier at the Wall all the way to Praetorio“, wherein the penultimate entry is named Delgovicia and is listed some 13 miles from Derventio (Malton, North Yorkshire) and 25 miles from Praetorium (Bridlington, Humberside). There is a similarly-sounding station named in the Ravenna Cosmology of the seventh century, where a place named Devovicia (R&C#139) appears between the entries for Decuaria (Brough on Humber, Humberside) and Dixio (Whitby, North Yorkshire).

The name Delgovicia / Devovicia is possibly derived from the Latin words devium ‘out-of-the-way, devious; straying’ and vicinia ‘neighbourhood, neighbouring place; neighbours’, perhaps with the meaning of ‘the out of the way place’ or ‘backwater’, possibly with reference to the large detour from Eburacum recorded in Antonine Iter II, perhaps in order to use a ford over the Derwent at Malton, or to avoid marshland to the east of the Roman colony.

References for Delgovicia

Temples in Roman Britain by M.J.T. Lewis (Cambridge 1966).

Sites near Millington (Delgovicia?) Settlement