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On the north
side of the Minster a quiet little street, Chapter House Street, runs
along one side of the Treasurer's House, close to the line of an important
Roman street (via decumana) which led to the north-east gate of the fortress.
The Roman street itself forms the floor of a small cellar inside the Treasurer's
House, which is now open to visitors. It was here that one of the strangest
stories in York's history began. In 1953 a young local man, Harry Martindale,
was working in the cellar when he heard the sound of a trumpet. He turned
to see a group of Roman soldiers walk out of the wall and continue past
him. Later, he described how the soldiers' legs were not visible below
the knee. After being ridiculed Harry stopped telling his story, but in
1954 excavations showed that a series of cobbled street surfaces had built
up during and since the Roman period making sense of Harry's claim! The
ghostly soldiers were presumably walking on the earliest and deepest street
level!
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