Was Malton Roman Fort also the Romano-British town named as Delgovicia?

Hello again and Happy Friday to you!

Malton Museum

My trip to Malton Museum Roman Festival last weekend was most enjoyable. The site for the festival was Orchard Fields, Malton. Orchard Fields is an undulating sloping site that for many visitors, or dog walkers, is a pleasant green space to spend time in. An archaeologist would probably see the site differently and would likely be able to assess where the ramparts of the Roman Fort of almost 2000 years ago would have been, without recourse to specialist equipment.

First used in the time of General Cerialis' Britannic governorship, Malton was initially a temporary camp of some 22 acres, built to shelter the advancing troops who flooded Brigantia around AD71/73. By AD 79, it's thought that it would have been under the governorship of Gnaeus Iulius Agricola that the first wooden fort of 8.5 acres was constructed and then some decades later the walls were laid in stone, the perimeter shape of the fort changing according to the amount of soldiers; horses and mules it had to give shelter to. Remnants of these walls were excavated in the 1920s by an archaeologist named Philip Corder who clarified that the fort was of a typical 'playing card' shape. Substantial coin evidence of the Caurausian era would point to the fort being used/ occupied for many decades, to at least the late 200s.

I've made many mentions in my Celtic Fervour Series of the military activities of both General Cerialis and General Agricola. And my main characters in the series are, of course, of Brigantian origins so I felt quite at home in Malton waxing lyrical to anyone who stopped by to listen and to buy my novels.

The site was well laid out with exhibitor off-loading available at the 'upper' main gate, after which I had to drive my car round the town streets to park at the bottom end of Orchard Fields which is quite a bumpy slope.

Terry Deary signing books almost all day! 

The 'Author' tent was set next to the 'Talk' tent where various people gave talks, myself included. Alongside me were two very busy tables. One inhabited by Kemps Books, the local bookstore in Malton; and the other was Terry Deary's signing table (Horrible Histories). Acquiring Terry to attend the festival was genius since it drew many families onto the festival site all day long. Three other authors were in our little area- Kate Cunningham (children's books); Nick Brown (military Roman fiction) and Clive Ashman (Roman fiction and non fiction).  

Danny Allsebrook (Caractacus); Fiona Trigg (Cartimandua)
Brigante me; and the other Brigante! 

There were many other stalls and activities to keep everyone happy all day long. Equestrian shows were further down the field in the arena area and Roman Re-enactors gave live demonstrations of various Roman crafts. And I was delighted to again meet my Brigante friends - Fiona Trigg, Danny Allsebrook and one more Brigante - having seen them at the York Eboracum Roman festival in 2022 and 2023. It was equally nice to touch base again with Graham Harris (Romans in York/ re-enactors) and a few of his re-enactor soldiers that I recognised from the Eboracum festivals. 

Kate Cunningham and I having a laugh! 

A very good day was had by all, I believe, if the happy kids were anything to go by. They were clutching multiple Terry Deary books all dutifully signed by said author. 

The day passed really quickly and afterwards I spent a lovely few hours out dining in Malton with Kate Cunningham and her wonderful family. 

It was a long way to drive but well worth it! And I also signed a few copies of my own novels! 

Slainte!