Pre-5th century A.D. - Romans build three forts on the site of what is now Lancaster Castle.

Ca. 124 A.D. - Romans build small altar at Lancaster

Ca. 343 - The Romans are thought to have built a large fort at Lancaster.

5th century A.D. - Romans leave Britain and the forts fall into disrepair.

Ca. 630 - First church is built on site of Lancaster Priory.

Ca. 1066 - William the Conqueror gives Lancaster to Roger of Poitu in gratitude for his services in battle.

1086 - Domesday Book lists name as 'Loncastre' for a modern meaning of 'The Roman fort on the River Lune.'

1093 - Roger of Poitu establishes his military headquarters at Lancaster.

1094 - Benedictine Priory of Lancaster is founded.

12th century - Position of High Sheriff of Lancashire created.

Ca. 1150 - Normans build a stone keep to form the nucleus of Lancaster Castle.

1166 - Assizes first held at Lancaster.

1193 - Lancaster receives its first charter as a market town and borough.

1196 - First written reference made of a gaol at Lancaster Castle.

1206 - King John holds court at Lancaster Castle.

1253 - Records show that more than £250 was spent on constructing Lancaster Castle's curtain wall and gateway.

1265 - Henry III gives his son, Edmund, lands that had belonged to Simon de Montfort and Robert Ferrers, Earl of Derby.

1267 - These lands acquire the name of Lancaster, and Edmund becomes the first Earl of Lancaster.

1297 - Edmund's son, Thomas, inherits the earldom of Lancaster and extends his holdings via marriage.

1322 - Robert Bruce and Edward II visit Lancaster Castle.

1325 - Witches' Tower (originally called the Well Tower) is built.

1351 - Edmund's grandson, Henry, becomes first Duke of Lancaster.

1361 - John of Gaunt becomes Earl of Lancaster by marrying Henry's daughter, Blanche.

1362 - John of Gaunt becomes the second Duke of Lancaster.

1362 - First shipping bylaws for Lancaster were written.

1399 - John of Gaunt dies. Following his uncle's death, Richard II seizes the duchy of Lancaster, making it part of the properties of the monarch. This arrangement continues today.

Ca. 1400 - Either Henry IV or Henry V launches a rebuilding program at Lancaster Castle. Its most important accomplishment is the John of Gaunt Gatehouse, one of the finest of its type in England.

1460 - Edward IV visits Lancaster Castle.

1585 - Queen Elizabeth I rebuilds the upper story of Lancaster Castle's Norman Keep.

1612 - Trial of Lancashire Witches is held in Lancaster Castle.

1617 - James I visits Lancaster Castle.

1652 - George Fox, founder of Quakerism - first visits Lancaster.

1664 - George Fox is imprisoned at Lancaster for refusing to take the Oath of Supremacy.

1670s - First known voyage from Lancaster to the Americas occurs.

1715 - Jacobite army marches into Lancaster. They leave two days later for the Battle of Preston.

1729 - Robert Gillow begins making furniture from imported mahogany.

1736 - Lancaster ships begin transporting African slaves.

1740s - Gillows opens a London warehouse; improved distribution dramatically increases the firm's national reputation.

1742 - Robert Gillow becomes an Indies trader.

1745 - Bonnie Prince Charlie briefly occupies the town during the Jacobite Rebellion.

1749 - Lancaster's Port Commission is established.

1764 - Lancaster's Custom House is completed.

1770s - Lancaster native artist Joseph R.A. Farringdon returns from London to paint Lancashire and the Lake District.

1783 - Architect Thomas Harrison completes construction on new Town Hall for Lancaster.

1788 - Gaoler's House is erected at Lancaster Castle.

1788 - Architect Thomas Harrison is commissioned to design a Crown Court and Shire Hall at Lancaster Castle.

1792 - Construction begins at Lancaster Castle on a prison for female felons.

1794-1796 - A prison for male felons and "accommodations for debtors" are built at Lancaster Castle.

1796 - Lancaster Castle's medieval Great Hall is demolished.

1798 - Workers complete construction of Harrison's Crown Court and Shire Hall.

1800 - Public executions are moved from Gallows Hill on the moors to the Hanging Corner at Lancaster Castle.

Ca. 1800 - Lancaster becomes the third busiest port in England, after London and Bristol.

1801 - Noted cabinetmaker Gillow of Lancaster makes the Grand Jury Room's table and chairs for £7 each.

1802 - Joseph Gandy provides designs for decorative elements of the Crown Court and Shire Hall, including traceries, seating and canopies.

1803 - Lancaster martitime insurance broker Gideon Yates is imprisoned for debt; after prison, he becomes a professional painter specializing in scenes of Lancashire.

1811 - The last time a convicted prisoner's hand was branded with M for malefactor in Lancaster's Crown Court.

1816 - Artist J.M.W. Turner paints his most famous pictures of Lancaster as part of his commissioned work 'A General History of the County of York.'

1817 - Artist Gideon Yates paints his last scenes of Lancaster before moving to London.

1821 - Joseph Gandy designs and builds a 5-story, panopticon Female Penitentiary at Lancaster Castle. It is still used today by male prisoners.

1822 - John of Gaunt's statue is installed above the gatehouse that bears his name.

1835 - Liverpool receives rights to hold assizes, hastening Lancaster's decline as an assizes center.

1846 - Prince Louis Napoleon visited Lancaster Castle.

1846 - The Lancaster & Carlisle Railway opens Carnforth Station.

Ca. 1850 - The River Lune begins to silt up, encouraging citizens to turn to manufacturing.

1852 - Queen Victoria visits Lancaster Castle.

1857 - Ulverstone & Lancaster Railway reaches Carnforth Station.

1865 - In the last public execution to be held at Lancaster Castle, Stephen Burke is hanged for murdering his wife.

1866 - The national Bankruptcy Act ends the centuries-old tradition of holding debtors at Lancaster Castle until they could pay their debts.

1880 - London & North West Railway takes over lines of the former Lancaster & Carlisle Railway, including Carnforth Station.

1890 - Norman curtain wall is discovered at Lancaster Castle during excavation.

1904 - Lord Ashton begins construction on Ashton Memorial.

1906 - Model of Ashton Memorial exhibited at the Royal Academy in London.

1909 - Lord Ashton completes Ashton Memorial, "England's grandest monument."

1912 - George V visits Lancaster Castle.

1916-1918 - Lancaster Castle is used to house German POWs.

Late 1920s - A total of 64 Roman coins are discovered near Lancaster.

1931 - The original plans for Lancaster Castle's Great Hall and dungeons are discovered.

Ca. 1940 - Two cannons and the railings around Lancaster Castle are melted down to make bullets.

1954 - Lancaster Castle is returned to prison use once again for low-priority criminals.

1965 - Construction begins on Lancaster University.

1966 - Lancaster University begins partial operations.

1968 - Students move in to Lancaster University.

1971 - Lancaster assizes are demoted to status of a third-tier Crown Court.

1975 - Criminal trial of the alleged IRA pub-bombers the Birmingham Six is held at Lancaster Castle's Shire Hall.

1988 - An excavation for Mitchell's Brewery includes the discovery of 34 Roman coins.

1999 - Queen Elizabeth II visits Lancaster to mark the 600th anniversary of the Crown's ownership of the duchy.

Related Articles:

Lancaster, by Elizabeth Ashworth

https://www.timetravel-britain.com/articles/towns/lancaster.shtml

Hidden Churches of Lancashire, Manchester and Liverpool, by Louise Simmons

https://www.timetravel-britain.com/articles/churches/lancashire.shtml

Pace Egging - A Lancashire Tradition, by John Ravenscroft

https://www.timetravel-britain.com/articles/history/pace-egging.shtml

Wakes Weeks: From the Saints to the Sea, by Elizabeth Ashworth

https://www.timetravel-britain.com/articles/history/wakes.shtml