ROMAN HISTORY

A person from Ilkley is called an Olicanian which is derived from Olicana, thought to be the name of the Roman fort Ilkley is built upon.
The small size of the Roman fort at Ilkley is insufficient for a cavalry ala, and must have been intended to house an infantry cohort. Although the earliest inscription dates to the latter half of the second century, it is very likely that Verbeia was first built during the early campaigns of Julius Agricola c.AD78, though it was almost certainly abandoned by Hadrianic times. Only two dateable texts have been unearthed, the first is an altarstone (RIB 636 supra) which proves only that the fort was re-occupied during the governorship of Calpurnius Agricola who supervised the final withdrawal from the Antonine to the Hadrianic frontiers. The other dateable text is a building inscription (RIB 637 infra) recording restoration work undertaken in preparation for the Severan campaigns into Scotland.l.