YORK'S planned new Roman attraction beneath Rougier Street will aim to follow the successful model pioneered by Jorvik 40 years ago.

Most importantly, the whole design of the museum will be determined by whatever Roman remains archaeologists find when they begin digging beneath Rougier House and the Society Bar.

The York Archaeological Trust's dream seems to be to recreate parts of the Roman city of Eboracum in the very midst of authentic Roman remains - just as they did for the Vikings at Jorvik.

But what kind of Roman remains are they likely to find beneath Rougier Street? And how can they be sure they will, in fact, find any Roman remains at all?

Well, Rougier Street is on the opposite side of the River Ouse from the main Roman fortress, which was centred around the area now occupied by York Minster (High Petergate is on the line of one of the fortress's principal streets, and the Multangular Tower in Museum Gardens is on the site of one of the corner towers of the fortress wall).

Rougier Street is some way away from all this, and separated from it by the river. Nevertheless, on the Rougier Street side of the river there was, in Roman times, a large civilian settlement, or 'colonia'. A bridge across the Ouse linked this to the main fortress.

Extensive Roman burial sites have, in fact, been found under what is now The Mount and the railway station. A cluster of temples was also found around what is now Micklegate. And the plain fact is that, if you dig deep enough almost anywhere in York, you are likely to come across Roman remains of some sort.

Archaeologists even believe that, beneath York's new community stadium, there was in Roman times a camp where Roman legionaries would once have marched and drilled.

Over the years, there have been countless digs which have yielded fascinating Roman remains. Here, we have dug out photographs of a just a few of the more recent ones, to give an idea of the Roman riches that could be waiting to be discovered...

Our photographs show:

1. A Roman sewer discovered by contractors in 1972 while digging at the corner of Church Street and Swinegate in York. Experts also uncovered the remains of a bath once used by the 6,000 soldiers inside the Roman Legionary fortress

2. Children from Bishopthorpe School watching Janet Clarke, Jim Spriggs and Chris Clark slide cardboard under a Roman mosaic, which had been covered with glue and muslin to help with lifting. The mosaic was found in 1851 at the corner of Clementhorpe and Cherry Street but then re-covered. York Archaeological Trust lifted it in 1976 when it learned houses were to be built. The photo was taken on September 24, 1976

3. Archaeologist Nick Pearson pictured on October 2, 1988, with a section of Roman wall he uncovered in Fetter Lane, Skeldergate

4. Time team presenter Sandi Toksvig pictured on September 3, 1999, with a Roman coin - one of many finds at a dig in Walmgate

5. Ian Milstead, the lead archaeologist from the York Archaeological Trust, cleaning a section of Roman Road found beneath beneath York Minster.

The road was discovered by archaeologists a few years ago during construction work on the new visitor development in the Undercroft.

The road is believed to have been a backstreet, part of the Via Quintana, running behind the Roman basilica (a major public building used for administration and justice). The backstreet was used for hundreds of years and was frequently patched and repaired, falling into disuse at the same time as the basilica itself

6. York Archaeological Trust's Giulia Gallio in January 2016 with the skeleton of a Roman-age body discovered at Driffield Terrace in York

7. A computer generated image of the proposed new Roman attraction beneath Rougier House and the Society Bar on Rougier Street

Stephen Lewis