York Archaeology Online Collections

Items

• P1260 St. Mary's Abbey Precinct North, Yorkshire Museum
• P5356 Roche Abbey
  In April 2010 ArcHeritage undertook a watching brief on works connected with the construction of a kissing gate at the remains of the Cistercian Roche Abbey near Maltby, South Yorkshire. The works involved four holes dug above the edge and side of one of the monastic bridges at the edge of the complex spanning the water course known as Maltby Dike. Although the excavations revealed no structural remains they nevertheless demonstrated that the below ground remains of the bridge and the adjacent monastic walls were either beneath the base of the excavations or did not survive at these positions.
• P0761 East Guest House, Fountains Abbey
  The watching brief recorded deposits which related to the construction of the east guest house of the abbey (1150-1170) parts of an original wall core and the plinth of the east guest house wall. A dump of roof tile and stone rubble to form the foundation for a series of stone walls dated from the first half of the 13th century. Above the medieval remains modern dumps included those which had resulted from archaeological work carried out in 1987.
• P0809 Cable Trench, Museum Gardens
  The excavation of two inspection chambers and an archaeological watching brief on the digging of a cable trench in the Museum Gardens, revealed the presence of five walls and a probable drain/sewer. The depth, materials and alignments of these features suggest that they originally formed parts of the medieval abbey of St. Mary’s. A number of rubbly deposits likely to relate to the demise of these and other buildings were also observed. Later deposits can be associated with the landscaping and horticultural activities of the gardens, and in one area to the disposal of probable excavation spoil, in the early 19th century. The latest features encountered relate to modern paths and services.
• P0528 St Mary's Abbey Wall, Chainage 100-112
  Damaged stones were removed and replaced with new stone in a programme of repair. The stonework of the section of wall under repair was constructed c. 1266 and heightened in c. 1318. The stonework of the wall in this section was recorded.
• P0383 St Mary's Abbey Precinct Wall
  Two buttresses were added to the Marygate face of St Mary’s Abbey Precinct Wall, requiring archaeological excavation as a condition of Scheduled Monument Consent. In each a well-built vertical wall continued below the depth of buttress construction to at least 1.5m beneath the modern ground-surface, with consolidated ramparting against the outer face. A cobble surface which may have been a pathway was encountered and was sealed by a build-up deposit, both of these were thought to be of medieval date. A limestone and cobble foundation of a wall running parallel to the abbey wall and a surface with associated build-up were dated to the 18th century. Modern dumped material including a domestic rubbish dump were found above this.
• P0241 Lighting Scheme, Museum Gardens
  An extensive watching brief on a series of pits and trenches associated with the installation of a new lighting system was undertaken in the Scheduled Area around the Abbey of St Mary. Disturbance was largely confined to deposits of recent date but a number of archaeological features were also found. In particular the masonry walls of a range of buildings to the south of those previously identified were recorded.
• A0607 Museum Gardens, ice cream kiosk drainage
  A limestone wall which was a part of St Mary's Abbey was observed. The internal face of the wall was seen to survive to 8.76m OD with a brick-faced offset 0.62m beneath the surviving top. A series of mortar floors abutting the offset were removed and the base of the foundation was located 0.53m below the offset.
• A0263 Museum Gardens
  A limestone wall and foundations were observed in a contractor's trench. From its position it was interpreted as a part of the St Mary's Abbey precinct wall.
• A0102 King's Manor
  A stone-built drain, the construction trench of which cut through natural, was observed in a contractor's trench. It was interpreted as a medieval feature probably associated with St Mary's Abbey.
• A0887 St Mary's Abbey, Tower C
  Excavation inside the tower on the precinct wall showed a depression near the north angle. This indicated a pre-existing ditch and showed that the wall had originally been continuous to this point and that the tower had been added later. Pottery from the ditch dated to 11th-13th century. There were no deep foundations to the tower. Two earlier phases of building, differentiated by varying thickness of the tower wall were encountered. These earlier building phases may date to 1266 and 1318.
• A0623 Museum Gardens tree planting (Shd Mon)
  Deposits deriving from the disuse and dilapidation of the claustral buildings after the Dissolution were found to be sealed and preserved by material dumped in the area during the creation of landscaped gardens around the Yorkshire Museum in the 19th century.