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P5031 Electricity Sub-Station, Silver Street
P5007 St. Anthony's Hall, Aldwark, York
P1024 Former Foss Islands Service Station
On March 14th and 15th 2002 York Archaeological Trust carried out an archaeological watching brief on land at the former Foss Islands Filling Station, Foss Islands Road, York, during which the drilling of five boreholes was observed. In all of the boreholes thick relatively modern dumps were observed. Below these were thick deposits of silt which were damp or wet and in places contained noticeable amounts of moderately to well preserved organic material. The profile obtained from these boreholes indicated that the underlying clay sloped downwards from south to north and that the site may lie astride the edge of the King’s Fishpool, known from documentary and cartographic evidence to lie partly in the area of the site. In October 2004, and on January 26th 2005, York Archaeological Trust carried out an archaeological watching brief at the former Foss Islands Filling Station, Foss Islands Road, York, during the excavation of a combined total 17 test pits and 5 boreholes. Previous archaeological work on the site had already identified modern dumping deposits sealing highly organic deposits associated with the Kings Fish Pool. The test pits and the boreholes during this programme of work confirmed these findings suggesting that this area was on the edge of the King’s Fish Pool as the natural subsoil was located close to the surface at the southern end of the site and dropped sharply to the north. An environmental sample was taken from the pond deposits within Borehole 5 that showed there was very good organic preservation. Most of the plant remains identified were from aquatic or waterside habitats, the only exceptions being daisy, which grows in short grassland, and black-bind weed that occurs as a weed in waste places and arable ground. The identified invertebrate remains were also of aquatic forms. The watching brief in January 2005 yielded further evidence for the presence of the King’s Fish Pool with organic sediments and at least one wooden structure together with a number of other wooden posts being observed.
P1180 Cable Trench, Mount Terrace
Natural deposits of firm brown clay were noted in all but Trench 1. Although no finds were recovered from the watching brief, all deposits and features overlying the natural were definitely or very probably modern in origin and associated with the installation of modern services. Nothing of notable archaeological significance was observed in any of the trenches.
P1168 York District Hospital Car Park, Wigginton Road, York
No finds were recovered from this watching brief but inclusions of crushed limestone and concrete fragments within most of the deposits recorded made it clear that the majority of layers seen were of modern origin and relate to the construction of the hospital. There was one possible exception, Context 1002. This appeared to be uncontaminated by modern material and was notably cleaner than the obviously modern deposits. It was not possible to excavate any of it and thus its interpretation as a backfill deposit is questionable. It was, however, more than 3m across but its full shape, function and size could not be determined but it is possible that it was a clay extraction pit. It was not possible to assign a date other than to very broadly place it in the pre modern era. The field drains 1005, 1006 and 1007 probably belong to the pre-hospital use of the area as a sports ground whereas drains 1008 and 1009 appear to be associated with the hospital. It is considered unlikely that any archaeological remains of any great significance were disturbed or destroyed during these construction works but the possible pit fill Context 1002 should act as a reminder that archaeological features and deposits might exist in the general area.
P1149 80 Alma Terrace
On May 7th and 10th 2004 York Archaeological Trust undertook a watching brief on land at 80 Alma Terrace, York in order to observe the machine stripping of an access road and car parking area for a new development on the site. Chance finds from the 19th century and more recent archaeological observations had suggested the possibility that deposits and features of some significance might be encountered during the new development. Although much of the site under consideration had suffered greatly from modern disturbance, the watching brief did record definite deposits and at least one probable feature, all thought to be probably of pre-modern date although no dating evidence was recovered to confirm this. It is therefore quite possible that further archaeological work in the vicinity may reveal remains of some significance.
P1281 60 Lawrence Street
Between 11th and 20th July 2005 York Archaeological Trust undertook an evaluation excavation at 60 Lawrence Street, York. This was in advance of a proposal to demolish the existing retail property and redevelop the site by erecting new flats and garages. In the three trenches excavated evidence was recovered for activity of an agricultural nature during the Roman period followed by disuse in the subsequent Anglian period. Activity, and possibly occupation of the site, recommenced in the Anglo-Scandinavian period and there was some evidence to suggest that this may have been continuous up to the present day. This site has produced valuable evidence for understanding the origins and development of this suburban area of York.
P1286 54-56 Monkgate
P1296 House and Son
P1214 Land Adjacent To St Saviour's Church, Hungate, York
Between 13th and 22nd September York Archaeological Trust undertook an archaeological evaluation excavation at land adjacent to St Saviour’s Church, Hungate, York in order to assess the date, nature, preservation and quality of any archaeological remains on the site. The evaluation revealed a complex sequence of burials, structures and occupation deposits, and road surfaces dating from the 11th - 12th century to the present day. There was also evidence of possible earlier Roman, Anglian and Anglo Scandinavian activity on the site. Significant archaeology, including the burials, lay relatively close to the modern ground surface but is at present generally well preserved and has great potential as an archaeological resource for revealing and understanding the development of this area of York over the last 2000 years.
P5206 Dutch House, 4 Ogleforth, York
During a watching brief at 4 Ogleforth, York the floor of a cellar was removed in preparation for the laying of a new floor. Examination of the exposed area revealed a number of linear backfills aligned north-west / south-east and north-east / south-west. These were interpreted as the backfills of beam slots. The depth at which they were seen and their alignment suggested that they were parts of timber structures of the 1st or 2nd century belonging to the Roman Legionary Fortress. A small area of burnt clay seen at the same level as the backfills may be a hearth within a building. No coherent structure could be defined from these fragmentary remains. In another part of this watching brief a limestone wall and slightly organic build up deposits were recorded in a newly excavated service trench. No dating evidence was recovered associated with this wall or the deposits was recovered but previous work in the vicinity may indicate a medieval date. Building recording The report details the results of a programme of building recording carried out in February 2009 at the Dutch House, Ogleforth, York. The Dutch House is a mid-late 17th century brick built structure, an early surviving example of its type. Although there is clear evidence of domestic usage in the 19th century and probably earlier, significant changes during renovation in 1958 have removed much earlier fabric and evidence of its development. In addition to compiling a comprehensive photographic and graphic record of the current form and condition of the building this survey has been able to throw some light on some hitherto unknown aspects of its history and development, particularly the detail of its domestic use from the 19th century and the extent and impact of a renovation scheme.
P5190 Bland's Farm, 37 Southfields Road, Strensall
In the course of this watching brief no buried structures or definite features were noted although the animal bone from Context 1012 may have been within a very shallow cut. Since the site was formerly a farm the presence of animal bone might be expected. A small part of one probable farm building (1017) was noted in one of the recorded sections and may have been part of a structure which was open to the east. The lack of any features of any great date need not be unexpected since the site does lie some distance south of the principal road through Strensall, where occupational activity would tend to be concentrated. It was clear from examination of the sections that some form of modern site clearance had removed all deposits down to natural clay in the western part of the site whereas in the eastern part there remained up to c.0.5m of dark build-up deposit (1001, 1002, 1005, and 1012). The few finds noted from this dark deposit all appeared to be recent in date and no finds pre-dating the 20th century were noted from the excavations. It is therefore felt that no archaeology of any significance was disturbed during the works although larger scale open stripping of a substantial area may reveal features of some archaeological interest.
P5582 York Gas Works, Heworth Green, York
A watching brief during mitigation ground works at the site of the former York Gas Works identified natural geological deposits at around 1m below ground level, overlain by an agricultural soil of 18th – 19th century date. This had been disturbed by a clearance and extensive levelling, dumping and waste disposal activity associated with the 19th and 20th century developments of the Gasworks. The site was then extensively levelled and turfed in the later 20th century. No significant archaeological remains were found.
P5524 Sewer trench, outside 22 Aldwark, York
It became quickly evident that most of the archaeology within the trench had been removed by the insertion of the original sewer and subsequent repairs to it. However, by good fortune a north-eastward extension of the trench to enable the insertion of concrete support and inspection rings did expose a small, c.2m x 0.7m, area of surviving archaeological stratigraphy, although even here the upper 1.5m had been destroyed by modern activity. The results, however, were most significant. Contexts 1014 and 1016 were both thought to be Roman road surfaces although 1016 had been partially removed by modern intrusions. Inspection of Context 1014 determined that even in the small section available there was a very distinct camber with the central part being up to 0.1m higher than either observed end. One end was completely destroyed by a modern drain and the other end went beyond the south-east limit of the trench, thus it was not possible to gain any reliable estimate for the width of this road. A number of Roman roads have been recorded in the immediate area and examination of the published record (Brinklow et al, 1986, 32-40) made it very clear that the road seen in this trench was a south-westward extension of one seen in the early 1970s during excavations at 21-33 Aldwark with both projected alignment and depth of the road corresponding. It is therefore very likely that this was a brief and tantalising glimpse of a Roman road running outside and roughly parallel to the south-east wall of the Legionary Fortress. Unfortunately safety and operational considerations meant that no detailed work could be done on the surfaces and no dating evidence was recovered. The road was well built, however, and this may well indicate a date in the 2nd or 3rd century which was be broadly consistent with the roads seen at 21-33 Aldwark. The results of this modest watching brief means that a considerable length of extra mural fortress road can now be added to the map of Roman York with confidence and demonstrates the value of undertaking watching briefs.
P5508 71-73 Goodramgate
A two-trench evaluation at 71-73 Goodramgate revealed extensive midden deposits of 13th century date at 2m BGL/14.30m AOD. A 14th century building with evidence for 16th century demolition and alteration was found, along with evidence for the disposal of local metal working waste from the 15th century into the post medieval period. An 18th/19th century clearance truncated these remains, which were sealed beneath extensive 19th century ground make-up deposits. The lowest midden deposits were waterlogged and contained organic remains with an extremely good level of preservation. Subsequent boreholes revealed a further 3.25m of deposits overlying natural at 5m BGL/c.11.10m AOD.
P5497 Library Square, Museum Street, York
Although badly disturbed in places by modern services and the Tree Pit 1 excavation was not observed this watching brief did provide some useful information about the area. In the main clearance area modern activity had removed any archaeological stratigraphy of any significance down to around 0.5m BGL and even here the clean dark soil (1016) recorded had suffered considerable truncation. The nature of Context 1016 is uncertain although its depth and cleanness may indicate that it is a build-up deposit of medieval date. The evidence from Tree Pit 2 is more interesting. Here there are traces of stone built walls, sometimes surviving to within 0.5m of the modern ground surface. Also in this pit were a number of thin but compact deposits (1000, 1008, 1014 and 1015) which may have been floor levels. Both walls and possible floor levels were sealed by pre-modern probable demolition material. The date of these walls and floors is uncertain but the demolition material may belong to the 18th century and the walls and floors to the 16th century or possibly earlier. If this is the case then they should belong to part of St Leonard’s Hospital which is known to have occupied this site in the medieval period. Although the hospital is well documented, being one of the largest and richest in England at the time, comparatively little is known about its layout and any opportunity to archaeologically investigate any part of this hospital would be useful.
P5488 Sewer repair, Tower Gardens, York
Although no archaeology of any great significance was encountered during this watching brief some useful information was recovered from the trench. The lower deposits Contexts 1001 and 1002 appear to be river silts deposited during episodes of flooding although when is unknown since no datable finds came from them. Context 1003 and probably 1004 seem to be dumps of material intended to raise the surrounding ground level in order to alleviate the problem of flooding although if so then it has not been successful since this area of York is nowadays subject to flooding every year.
P5478 Utility trench, junction of Winterscale Street and Fishergate, York
No features or buried structural remains were seen within any of the trenches. The relatively clean dark brown silt, Context 1000, in the recorded section appeared to be undisturbed and may be an agricultural or horticultural soil. Since no finds were recovered from these works the date of this soil remains uncertain but it was probably of post-medieval, or possibly earlier, date. No archaeological remains of any great significance were observed or disturbed during these works.
P5477 Utiliity trench, outside 103 The Mount, York
Although no finds were noted from this work all contexts seen within the trench were clearly modern in origin and were levelling or backfill deposits. No archaeology of any significance was disturbed during the works.
P5472 Jet Garage, 128 Lawrence Street, York
The sandy gravel seen towards the base of the trench is likely to be natural. No features were seen cut into it but given the very restricted area exposed this is not, perhaps, surprising. The dark silt above this was probably a pre-modern agricultural soil of uncertain date and its thinness may suggest a degree of modern truncation. All other deposits seen were clearly of modern origin. It is believed that no significant archaeology was disturbed during these works but this observation indicated the potential for archaeology to survive in the area only c.0.5m below the existing modern ground level and any future or large scale works in the vicinity would be worthy of monitoring.
P5470 Utility trench, Highcliffe Court, adj 110 Cllifton, York
Although relatively close to the modern ground surface the firm, mid brown clay (1000) seen towards the base of the trench was probably natural. No features were seen to be cut through and none of the overying layers were deemed to be of any great age or archaeological significance and were probably or definitely modern.
P5469 Utility trench, Deangate to Chapter House Yard, York
In many of the observed trenches and recorded sections it was clear that modern services had destroyed all significant archaeology down to a level of around 1m. Possible or probable build up deposits were noted in Sections 1, 6, 7, 10, 11, 22 and 23 but the only fairly convincing deposit was Context 1000 in Section 1 and the trench was c.1.5m deep here whilst elsewhere the trenches were generally c.0.8m – 0.9m deep. No features were recorded anywhere along the lines of the trenches but a definite stone wall was recorded at the base of Section 11. This contained no added brick or tile which may indicate a medieval date for it. The east west alignment of this is unusual but once plotted out it can be seen to run approximately parallel to the Minster. Nothing else of any great note was seen along the remainder of College Street and into Minster Yard. The section of trench through Chapter House Yard was for the most part a combination of modern services and levelling deposits although a human skull was seen in part of the trench (See Figure 4 for location). It was in the very base of the trench and since the new ducting could be routed around and just above it then it was left in situ within deposits that were certainly modern.
P5443 Lendal Slipway, York
Relatively large quantities of finds were noted from the excavated material. Examination of these indicated that probably all of the excavated material was of relatively modern origin although a few pieces of probably 18th century stoneware were mixed in with the later finds. Nothing earlier was observed as coming from the excavated material below the slipway and there was no evidence for timber or stonework from earlier riverside staiths which probably lie lower down and to the north west of the works. Dating of the mixed silts and levelling deposits from below the concrete is problematic but on the evidence of an intact perfume bottle, retained by City of York Council staff, is thought to be c.1910 or later. The latest finds included whisky bottles with metal screw caps and therefore it is likely that none of the deposits seen during the work pre-date the 20th century and all appear to be levelling for the construction of the slipway being removed
P5442 22 St Saviourgate, York
Although the foundation trenches penetrated up to 0.6m below the existing ground level nothing of any great archaeological significance was noted. At the very base of these trenches in places the soil was seen to be becoming cleaner and thus it is possible that a short distance further down lie deposits, features and structures of archaeological interest. Everything seen during the excavation of the foundation trenches and the overall strip appeared to be relatively modern levelling deposits, quite possibly to create a level garden. This process has been noted during work at No 26 St Saviourgate earlier this year and may be a common practice in the vicinity and effectively protecting the local archaeology from most minor and moderate interventions.
P5427 Utility trench, Dixon Lane, York
Throughout the length of the trench it was clear that all the deposits observed were of relatively modern origin and were probably either backfill deposits in service trenches or levelling deposits for the modern pavement surface. There were no archaeological remains of any significance recorded from this trench, any surviving archaeological remains having been removed by modern service trenches or other activity.