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Saturday 24 May to Saturday 31 May 2025
The sound of a cornu, a type of traditional Roman horn, will resound around the streets of Eboracum this weekend (from Saturday 24 May) to mark eight days of family-friendly events, parades, tours and trails throughout modern-day York.
Eboracum Roman Festival is a long staple in York’s festival calendar, bringing the colour of the city’s Roman founders back to life.
At the heart of the bank holiday weekend celebrations will be a free living history encampment in the Museum Gardens. A host of costumed characters, illustrating military and civilian lives, will set up camp on the central lawn, directly in front of the Yorkshire Museum, featuring Ermine Street Guard, Comitatus, Longthorpe Legion and Griffin Historical. The living history encampment runs from 10am to 5pm Saturday and Sunday.
With plumed helmets and polished armour, Eboracum’s soldiers will display how fearsome these warriors would be when they parade from the Yorkshire Museum to York Minster on Saturday and Sunday, starting at 12 noon each day.
The perfect photo opportunity, the march route leaves the Museum Gardens, heading up Lendal to St Helen’s Square, and then heading up Stonegate and through Minster Gates to muster outside the South Front. On Saturday, the return route heads through Bootham Bar.
“The military garrison sat at the centre of Eboracum, with civilians setting up home, and trade, in the areas around, and this is the foundation of the modern city we see today.
"During the Festival, visitors will be able to see both the military might and the trades, from carpentry and pottery to blacksmithing and even a Popina – a first century fast-food café,” comments Siona Mackelworth, Head of Audience and Programme for York Museums Trust.
“Inside the museum, we’re also hosting fun Roman-themed activities, from storytelling to mosaic-making, as well as a talk on Roman Coins by David Michaels in the Discovery Den.”
For those wishing to venture elsewhere in the city, from 29 – 31 May, costumed interpreters from Days Gone By will tell stories of York Minster’s connections to the Roman city, with crafts, handling objects and a Roman soldier on hand, too. Sessions run Thursday to Saturday from 10am to 3pm, and are included within admission to York Minster (which is completely free for York residents).
At DIG in St Saviourgate, visitors will be able to make a Roman face pot, with sessions running daily from 24 – 31 May from 11am to 3pm, priced at £3 per person. Visitors to the attraction can also see the only skeleton in the world that is believed to show a lion bite on a gladiator! Normal admission prices apply.
A free Roman treasure hunt is also running each day throughout the city centre on 24, 25, 28, 29 and 30 May – an ideal way of keeping children occupied and engaged!
To discover the hidden Roman history of York there are walking tours in the centre of the city on 27, 28. 29, 30 and 31 May.
For those who are more academically-minded, the Festival also includes a host of talks featuring eminent Roman historian Mary Beard, York’s own Peter Addyman, CEO of York Archaeology David Jennings.
Also featured is Tom Moore of Durham University and Sophia Adams of the British Museum who will talk about the recent Melsonby Hoard iron age finds which are currently on display in the Yorkshire Museum. The latest archaeological research on Roman York will also be highlighted on 23 May 2025 with a special symposium at Tempest Anderson Hall.
