Tadcaster (Calcaria) Roman Settlement

Minor Settlement

The Roman settlement of Calcaria lay at the crossing of the River Wharfe by the Roman road from Eburacum (York), south to Danum (Doncaster) and eventually to Lindum (Lincoln). The nearby settlement and fort at Newton Kyme mark the site of another (earlier?) crossing-point of the Wharfe, by the road north to Isurium Brigantum (Aldborough).

The identification of Tadcaster as the Roman Calcaria depends on three factors:-

  1. Its distance, 10 Roman miles from York in the direction of Manchester, agrees with the Antonine Itinerary distance of 9 miles
  2. The place-name -Tada, 1066, and various forms of Tate-, Tata-, Tad-, castre or caster from 1086 onwards. The 1066 form is probably an abbreviation and the name is accepted as a CEASTER name with a DA personal name prefix. The Roman Calcaria (used by Bede, c.730) means`limestone’ (there were Medieval quarries for the stone at Tadcaster which was also a river-port for despatching stone to York).
  3. Speight mentions that single Roman coins, but no hoards, have been found particularly in digging graves in the churchyard. One of Tacitus was in the vicar’s possession and others from Hadrian to Constantine in the possession of J Varley, found near the church and Castle Hill and about the Appelgarth. Several burials have been found at different places in the town. Speight also describes supposed Roman pottery vessels found in the river in 1893-1901 but they appear to have been Medieval. He refers to Roman coins, urns, pottery, etc. as being found on Castle Hill (see SE 44 SE/6, and also see SE 44 SE/8 and 10).

Roman Roads near Calcaria

W (11) to Adel (West Yorkshire) Itinera II/V/VIII: Ryknild Street: NE (10) to Ebvracvm WNW (2) to Newton Kyme (North Yorkshire) SW (29) to Cambodvnvm (Slack, West Yorkshire) Itinera V/VIII: S (13) to Lagentivm (Castleford, West Yorkshire)

Sites near Tadcaster (Calcaria) Roman Settlement