A Roman column stands in York's Minster Yard

Placed near York Minster, the Roman column is one of the enduring elements of Roman architecture in northern England. Built around AD 71 by the Ninth Legion as part of their military fortress, Eboracum, this city's current name, York, was born. Initially, the column played a role in supporting the upper structure of the basilica. Both Septimius Severus and Constantius I were present in York, and while the former lived, the latter passed in AD 306.

Following Constantius' death, his son Constantine the Great was proclaimed emperor by the army in York. Centuries of construction over Eboracum buried much of the fortress, and it wasn't until the late 1960s during archaeological digs beneath York Minster that the column was unearthed. The work revealed substantial remains of the Roman principia, the administrative centre of the fortress.

To mark the 1,900th anniversary of York's founding, the column was reassembled and erected in Minster Yard in 1972. Surviving stone sections were mounted on a modern concrete plinth. The column is made of Magnesian Limestone and provides a visible link to the military history of the Roman north.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons