Page "Malton, North Yorkshire" Paragraph 7

Likewise, what we know of Roman horse-keeping activity seems to echo modern Malton ’ s continuing reputation as another Yorkshire town famous for racehorse breeding and training.

Derventio itself was a strategically important cavalry fort, 17 miles from the Legionary fortress at York ( Eboracum ) and standing at the very hub of Roman road networks extending right across North and East Yorkshire.

Its known garrison, the Ala Picentiana, was a regiment or cavalry ‘ wing ’ of some repute, one arguably traceable from its first being raised in Gaul ( modern France ) under Julius Caesar himself ; to its later serving in the Balkans ( under a man called Picens whom the regiment is believed to be named after ) before eventual posting to Britain.

Marcus Claudius Bassus was a known commander of the regiment whilst in Malton, but another man called Candidus and his own links with the Ala at Derventio receive permanent record in a beautifully lettered fragmentary dedication stone set up by the unit commander outside the south-east gate of the fort, then eventually found in 1970 before going on display in the Old Town Hall today.