York Archaeology Online Collections

Items

• P1170 New Quay Road, Whitby
  Possible quay.
• P5112 University of York, Heslington, York
  Main excavation : From November 2007 to October 2008 York Archaeological Trust conducted a geophysical survey and an archaeological excavation at Heslington East, Heslington, York. The site lies some 3km to the south-east of York City centre, c. 700m to the east of Heslington village, and incorporates areas of glacial moraine and parts of the low lying Vale of York basin. The works involved the excavation two large areas, A1 and A2, seven smaller trenches, Trenches L1-L7 and 17 Evaluation Trenches. Further works: Additional evaluation trenches were excavated across the site in advance of clay extraction. All works were carried out on behalf of the University of York.
• 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.
• P5403 Flood Alleviation Scheme test pits, Parkgate, Pickering, North Yorkshire
  A watching brief was observed during the excavation of 17 geo-technical test pits dug as part of a flood defence scheme. A series of glacial and alluvial deposits was observed, including preserved wood that may indicate the pressence of buried prehistoric surfaces at c.2.5-3.5m below ground level.
• P0744 The Ryedale Building, 58-60 Piccadilly
  Borehole evidence indicated the presence of medieval alluvial material and suggested that the site lay within the King's Fishpool. The excavated deposits comprised levelling deposits probably used to reclaim land from the River Foss. They were waterlogged with good organic preservation and dated from the 16th -19th century. Large quantities of animal bone in the 18th century deposits appeared to have been discarded waste from leather processing.
• P0638 14 Skeldergate
  Three boreholes and six test pits demonstrated that archaeological deposits on the site survived to a height of c. 1m - 1.50m below ground surface. Sandy silts deposited in the medieval period were recorded in two of the test pits. Brick walls, probably of 19th century date, were also encountered. A watching brief observed the excavation of thirteen trenches dug to underpin a wall of a property to the southern edge of the site together with a series of pile trenches. In these trenches there was evidence that an undisturbed sequence of deposits dating from the Roman, Anglo-Scandinavian and medieval periods survived on the site. The quality of evidence recoverable from pile trenches was compromised by the method of excavation. Little dating evidence was recoverable and it was difficult to make comparisons between the stratigraphy in each pile trench. Since the quality and archaeological potential of these deposits had already been established by evaluation work carried out in 1991 it is surprising that only a watching brief with limited recording was specified as the requirement for this site. Timbers driven in to the upper surface of natural sands were observed to be sealed by layers of laminated clays and cobbles possibly representing surfaces. These are likely to date from the Roman period. Anglo-Scandinavian pottery was recovered from some of the material interpreted as occupation deposits but it was not possible to determine the scale of activity in this period. Deep deposits of organic build -up were dated to the medieval period. Two massive limestone walls were recorded. The exact relationship between the two walls was not possible to determine due to disturbance from the piling operations, but they were bonded with identical mortar indicating they had formed parts of the same structure which could have been a riverside building or a series of retaining walls. Part of the wall aligned east west had already been excavated in 1991 and was founded on a raft of horizontal timbers and dated to the 12th-early 13th century. Deposits accumulated to the north of the wall indicated intensive occupation, and comprised a culvert and a series of dumps. Those to the south of the wall represented a series of build-up deposits. Further walls were recorded and interpreted as internal walls of a separate structure. A substantial wall was built directly above this second structure and this wall was interpreted as the eastern wall of a riverside building, possibly a warehouse. A series of sand deposits dating to the 13th -14th century sealed all the structural elements. Further dumps were recorded and appeared to derive from demolition sources. A hearth and floors together with a robbed wall indicated continued occupation of the area. In the 14th-15th century there was a change in the type of hearth constructed on the site. Four almost identical circular brick lined ovens or furnaces were constructed and suggest industrial activity. Structural elements and occupation deposits continued to be represented into the 15th-16th century. Relatively little post medieval material was recorded on the site and any found was on the lower terrace of the site. A number of brick cellars or cellar infills were seen across the site and dated to the 19th or 20th century.
• P0697 90 Piccadilly
  Observations were made of 12 pile trenches drilled to a maximum of 16m below ground level. A sequence of natural sands beneath clean clay with organic waterlain sandy silts above was recorded. It was not possible to date the alluvial material.
• P0633 Former Old Priory Youth Club, 2a Nunnery Lane
  Deposits to the north-eastern end of the site were interpreted as relating to the medieval town ditch. Waterlain silts were sealed by a later medieval organic dump, which was subsequently sealed by a late medieval or early post-medieval levelling deposit. A modern garden soil then raised the ground surface to its present (post-demolition height). Deposits to the south-east of the site were found to be shallower, natural being found at only 2.5m from the surface. Archaeological deposits here probably related to agricultural activity from the Roman to the medieval periods.
• P0647 Hungate Development (Phase 1)
  A desk top study identified the likelihood that archaeological deposits would survive over all of the site and the deposits would include well stratified and well preserved waterlogged organic remains, of high archaeological value dating from Roman times to the post-medieval period. The area is known to have contained a Carmelite Friary, two parish churches, the Guild Hall of the Shoemakers and a Holy Priests House. A watching brief of an extensive borehole survey recorded material which was interpreted as dumps and occupation deposits dating from the Roman and the Anglo-Scandinavian periods together with alluvial silts representing the River Foss and the infilling of the King's Fishpool in the later medieval period. In parts of the site significant medieval and post medieval occupation deposits were also noted. See also 2000.1-14 YORYM for entry relating to excavation of this site.
• P0599 Ryedale Building, 58-60, 84 and 86 Piccadilly
  c. 10m of archaeological deposits were recorded above natural. These comprised alluvial sandy silts, which in one borehole could be dated to the pre Conquest period. Above these were clayey organic silts which were interpreted as having formed within the King's Fishpool and dated to the 14th - 15th century. Further organic silts accumulated in the 18th/19th century which were sealed by c. 1.5m - 3m of modern rubble and a concrete surface.
• P0579 The Motive Power Depot, National Railway Museum
  The majority of the trenches revealed the concrete slab of the former motive power works on the site. This slab was recorded above a layer of modern rubble and the foundations of the original engine sheds which were constructed in the 1870s with natural deposits below. In one of the trenches in the northern corner of the site, a depth of river silts was encountered.
• P0493 Emperor's Wharf, 28-34 Skeldergate
  Limited observations were made in a contractor's trench. A cobble surface and associated timber post were likely to have dated from the post medieval period. Layers of sand and silt were seen to have less depth with greater distance from the river.
• P0453 38 Piccadilly
  Deposits for a borehole core were recorded. Natural was encountered at approximately 9m below ground surface. Above it, deposits were interpreted as alluvial and dumping in the area of the King's Fishpool. They were sealed with post-medieval and modern rubble, representing land reclamation.
• P0513 York Castle Car Park, off Tower Street
  Seven boreholes were observed in this area, four of which encountered structural obstructions which were interpreted as likely to have been parts of the walls or foundations of the Victorian prison. In two of the boreholes organic silty deposits and a series of clays and silts were recorded. These boreholes may have been sampling material from the castle ditch and/or from within the river system of the Foss.
• P0401 Redhouse Ings, Moor Monkton (Yorkshire Water Pipeline, Moor Monkton to Elvington)
  A feature interpreted as part of an earlier river channel or perhaps a cut-off meander channel was recorded.
• P0255 Merchant Exchange, Queen's Staith
  Organic dumped material and alluvial silts were observed in borehole cores and natural was observed at approximately 8m below ground surface.
• P0181 18 Clifford Street
  The cores from two boreholes on this waterfront site were observed. Natural deposits were encountered approximately 9.50m below ground surface. The material above it was interpreted as medieval occupation deposits and post-medieval levelling.
• A0838 York Castle car-park (Boreholes)
  A series of boreholes were sunk to ascertain the location and depth of the ditches of the medieval castle and the related course of the River Foss. The data collected will assist in plotting the course of the River Foss and the position of the moat. 8.30m - 12m below ground level the deposits encountered were laminated sands silts and clays which were probably waterlain within the castle ditch or the River Foss. Above them was post-medieval infill, and demolition deposits derived from the Victorian prison below the modern car park surface.
• A0850 North Street FAS, pumping main trench
  Alluvial silt was observed at 2.80m below ground and above it a levelling deposit, likely to have been used to raise the level of the land prior to building construction. A small area of cobbling of medieval date was found associated with a building. Evidence for the building was a cobble footing and limestone padstone and a fragmentary wall. Other structural remains observed were two timber piles set in clay and limestone blocks with a further horizontal timber. When this building was demolished the area was levelled with 0.80m depth of sand. At this level a brick culvert was constructed of likely 15th century date. Above a further levelling deposit was a substantial limestone wall which may have been a flood defence wall associated with a slipway, or the 19th century warehouses which had occupied the site.
• A0790 St. George's Field Car Park, Pumping Station
  Alluvial deposits above naturally deposited material seemed to lie in a channel which may have been part of the original channel of the River Ouse. Alluvial deposits were found dating from pre-historic times to the medieval period. Timber piles and a cobble surface were encountered and may have dated to the Romano-British period or to the Anglo-Scandinavian period. A limestone wall was thought to be part of St George's Chapel. Pits may represent medieval activity on the margins of the land not subjected to regular flooding. A brick structure was thought to date to the 19th century and was sealed by modern deposits relating to the car park.
• A0779 Palmer Lane
  A series of boreholes identified well-preserved medieval and post-medieval deposits relatively close to the surface with possible Roman structures at depth. The site had been occupied by the Union Gas works in the mid 19th century.
• A0777 North Street boreholes
  Two series of boreholes in advance of the design of a flood prevention scheme identified a complex depositional sequence up to 11m deep adjacent to the Moat House Hotel slipway (the medieval Divlinstayned). A sequence of Roman deposits was identified, including evidence of structural activity. No evidence was found of a continuation of the Roman road located on the Wellington Road site nearby. Above the Roman deposits was a series of well-preserved organic deposits. These demonstrated that the river bank continued to be developed in the Anglo-Scandinavian and medieval periods. Post-medieval dumps and modern garden soil represented the most recent use of the site.
• A0722 26-34 Skeldergate
  Three trenches were excavated to determine the level of survival of archaeological deposits. Stone structures of medieval date were found to survive close to the Skeldergate street front and beneath the cobble river lane exposed in a previous phase of trial work. An impenetrable masonry feature located at depth in a borehole may represent the line of a Roman wharf.
• A0667 Skeldergate, Queen's Staith Road, Queen's Staith
  Boreholes showed the presence of at least 8m of archaeological deposits. The deposits included much organic build-up.
• A0611 Car Park, Garden Place
  Trial trenching and a borehole survey revealed that the site next to the River Foss had been extensively disturbed by massive 19th century foundations of Leetham's Mill. Beneath them, late medieval rubble, possibly used to reclaim land from the River Foss, sealed silty, waterlaid deposits indicating that part of the site had been within either the King's Fishpool or the river itself during the 11th and 12th centuries.