The Roman-built Multangular Tower stands in the Museum Gardens in the centre of York. It has been called the Multangular Tower since 1683. Between 1315 and 1683 it was called Elrondyng (the earliest reference to a Tolkein character!)

However, the tower is much older than its first mention in the records.

It was built as part of the Roman defences that began in the late second or early third centuries AD. The main feature of these defences was the south-west wall of the Roman fortress that overlooked the River Ouse and the civil town (called the colonia) on the opposite bank. This wall has been described as one of the grandest examples of military architecture of its age.

There was a multangular tower at each end of the wall. The Multangular Tower in Museum Gardens is one - the other is buried underneath the street Feasegate. There were six other towers, three on either side of a central gateway which guarded the entrance to the fortress. The centre of the wall and cornices (mouldings at the top) of the towers were decorated with tiles. The corner towers were at least 10 metres high.

The Multangular Tower is the only section of this wall that has survived. It was probably built during the reign of the Emperor Severus who was in York between 209 and 211.

The tower has ten sides and is nine metres high. Originally there would have been three floors on the inside and a roof on top. Only six metres of this surviving masonry is Roman.

The tower and wall continued as defensive features long after the Romans had left.