Description : Doncaster (/ˈdɒŋkəstər/, /-kæs-/) is a large minster and market town in South Yorkshire, England. Together with its surrounding suburbs and settlements, the town forms part of the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster, which had a mid-2019 est. population of 311,890. The town itself has a population of 109,805. The Doncaster Urban Area had a population of 158,141 in 2011 and includes Doncaster and neighbouring small villages. Part of the West Riding of Yorkshire until 1974, Doncaster is about 17 miles (30 km) north-east of Sheffield, with which it is served by an international airport, Doncaster Sheffield Airport in Finningley. Under the Local Government Act 1972, Doncaster was incorporated into a newly created metropolitan borough in 1974, itself incorporated with other nearby boroughs in the 1974 creation of the metropolitan county of South Yorkshire. Possibly inhabited by earlier people, Doncaster grew up at the site of a Roman fort constructed in the 1st century at a crossing of the River Don. The 2nd-century Antonine Itinerary and the early-5th-century Notitia Dignitatum (Register of Dignitaries) called this fort Danum. The first section of the road to the Doncaster fort had probably been constructed since the early 50s, while a route through the north Derbyshire hills was opened in the latter half of the 1st century, possibly by Governor Gn. Julius Agricola during the late 70s. Doncaster provided an alternative direct land route between Lincoln and York. The main route between Lincoln and York was Ermine Street, which required parties to break into smaller units to cross the Humber in boats. As this was not always practical, the Romans considered Doncaster to be an important staging post. The Roman road through Doncaster appears on two routes recorded in the Antonine Itinerary. The itinerary include the same section of road between Lincoln and York, and list three stations along the route between these two coloniae. Routes 7 and 8 (Iter VII & VIII) are entitled "the route from York to London". Several areas of known intense archaeological interest have been identified in the town, although many—in particular St Sepulchre Gate—remain hidden under buildings. The Roman fort is believed to have been located on the site that is now covered by St George's Minster, next to the River Don. The Doncaster garrison units are named in the Register produced near the end of Roman rule in Britain: it was the home of the Crispinian Horse, presumably named because it was originally recruited from among the tribes living near Crispiana in Pannonia Superior (near present-day Zirc in western Hungary), but possibly owing to Crispus, son of Constantine the Great, being headquartered there while his father was based in nearby York. The Register names the unit as under the command of the "Duke of the Britons". In 1971 the Danum shield, a rectangular Roman shield dating to the 1st or 2nd century AD, was recovered from the site of the Danum fort in 1971.
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