Roman BritainCalcaria
Roman Settlement · Civilian

Calcaria

Roman Britain
Pleiades ID: 89131
Site type
Settlement
Category
Civilian
Latitude
53.8831
Longitude
-1.2638
Overview

History & context

Calcaria was a town in the Roman province of Britannia. Today, it is known as Tadcaster, located in the English county of North Yorkshire.

The Romans founded the settlement and named it Calcaria from the Latin word for lime kilns, reflecting the importance of the area's Magnesian Limestone geology as a natural resource for quarrying. The nature of the settlement is uncertain. It is possible that it started as an Imperial staging post with a mansio because of its location at a river crossing on the road from Danum (Doncaster) to Eburacum (York). Just to the north-west is the Roman fort at Newton Kyme (possibly Praesidium) dating from the 4th century. Mileages on the Antonine Itinerary suggest that Calcaria may have lain well west of Tadcaster.

Garlick, Tom (1971). Roman Yorkshire. Clapham: Dalesman Publishing.

Arias, Gonzalo (1987). Grammar in the Antonine Itinerary. La Linea: Arias.

Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →

About this site

Questions & answers

What is Calcaria?

Calcaria was a town in the Roman province of Britannia. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a settlement site from the Roman period in Britain.

What type of Roman site is Calcaria?

Calcaria is classified as a Roman settlement — a civilian site in the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer. Roman Britain's archaeology encompasses thousands of sites ranging from legionary fortresses and marching camps to villas, temples and towns.

What other Roman sites are near Calcaria?

Several Roman sites lie within a short distance, including Roman villa (3.1 km), Two Roman forts, two Roman camps, vicus, Iron Age enclosure, Bronze Age barrows and Neolithic henge monument west of Newton Kyme (3.3 km), Newton Kyme (3.6 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.

How can I research the history of the area around Calcaria?

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Everything a full report reveals about Calcaria

This page covers the Roman site at Calcaria. A full Aubrey report for the area pulls together this site alongside scheduled monuments and everything else the record holds within a few miles:

Overview
An interactive map of the location with every monument and battle plotted, and a plain-language history built only from what the record holds.
Monuments
The legally protected scheduled monuments around the location, each with its period, type and significance.
Battlefields
The battles and sieges fought on this ground, mapped and set on a timeline of the wider conflict.
Roman Britain
The Roman roads, forts and towns near here, and the Iron Age people who held the land before Rome arrived.
Domesday
The settlement's entry in the 1086 Domesday Book: who held it, what it was worth, and the people who worked the land.
Civil War
The Civil War fighting, garrisons and recorded militaria in this area, woven into the arc of 1642 to 1651.
Geology
The bedrock beneath the site, its age and rock type, reaching back hundreds of millions of years.
LiDAR
Laser-scanned terrain that reveals earthworks hidden under fields and woodland, with likely features flagged.
Local Names
What the street and field names around here actually mean, and the history buried inside them.
Historical Maps
Ordnance Survey maps from the 1800s, layered over the location as it stands today.
Literature
The books, county histories, charters and archives that mention this place, quoted with their sources.
Legal
The protected sites nearby and the metal-detecting, access and treasure laws that apply to this ground.
Spotlight
A deep dive into the most remarkable, lesser-known history of the place, traced back to the record.
Target Zones
For detectorists: the most promising ground to search nearby, ranked by confidence, with what to expect.
Timeline
The whole story of the location told era by era, from prehistory to the present day.
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