Stand anywhere in the centre of York, and you will be standing on nearly 2,000 years of history.

In AD71 the then Roman governor of Britain, Quintus Petillius Cerealis, had a fortress built on the sandstone plateau between the River Foss and the River Ouse, as a base for the Roman Legions at the place they called Eboracum.

It was most famously garrisoned by the Legion IX Hispana, but they were here for only 50 years: they were followed by the Legion VI Victrix, which remained here until the Romans departed nearly three and a half centuries after York was founded.

In that time a thriving city formed around the military garrison and across the river, leaving imprints in York’s history that still exist today.

There are still some remains that can be seen by the public: in the Museum Garden’s are some coffins, the Multangular tower and some sections of Roman walls; some remains are on view in York Minster’s crypt and opposite the cathedral is a Roman column found in the Minster and now sited near the statue of Constantine the Great; and at the Eboracum Legion Bathhouse are the remains of the military bathhouse.

Hidden beneath the city Roman sewers still run, and a section of the walls of the city from Bootham Bar to near Monk Bar are based on the original Roman defences.

Some remains can still be seen from the walls, most notably near the Merchant Taylors’ Hall on Aldwark.

Without the Romans, York may not ever have existed and rightly so they are now being celebrated throughout the city, including the Eboracum Roman Festival each July.