York Archaeology Online Collections

Items

• P0607 Primitive Methodist Chapel, rear of 3 Little Stonegate
  The excavations show that beneath the ‘Primitive Methodist Chapel Cottage’ cellar, deep well stratified archaeological deposits survived. The earliest evidence for settlement included a linear ditch or gully aligned north-east to south-west, and a stake-hole alignment or fence line. These may all be of late Iron Age date and would therefore form the first evidence for prehistoric occupation within the area enclosed by the Roman Legionary Fortress. These were sealed by a thick layer of turf which was not distrubed until the construction of Roman timber barracks on the site. This building was demolished and the area levelled. This may have created a large open area within the fortress, such as a parade ground, compound or yard. The surface of this was patched over the area of the subsiding Iron Age ditch or gully and a shallow scoop or pit was excavated, perhaps for the disposal of rubbish or cess. Subsequently a road was constructed along with a second timber barracks which was thought to have been dismantled at the beginning of the 2nd century. It was superseded by a stone barracks. Several phases of modification to this building were recorded and a long series of successive exterior surfaces was found between the barrack blocks. These were interleaved with several accumulation, trampling and occupation deposits, the latter showing signs of scorching. The internal area appears to have been kept scrupulously clean and level throughout the time period in which the external surfaces built-up. The internal arrangement of the buildings was modified over time and metalled paths were laid out. A small area of metalling internal to a barracks may indicate it was used for stabling. In the first half of the 3rd century the barrack block apppears to have been partially burnt down. Various modifications were carried out to the building and a large latrine pit was found to belong to this period. In the 2nd half of the 3rd century a major rebuilding of structures took place on site along with new paths. Occupation of the buildings, which underwent further alterations, continued until the beginning of the 5th century. A series of mixed demolition and manure deposits then built up over the whole area. A thick homogenous deposit was either dumped or accumulated over the whole trench area. This was interpreted as an accumulation of manure, mixed with a small amount of earlier demolition material, cess and domestic rubbish. The area was interpreted as having been part of a farmyard at this point, perhaps including livestock pens. The earliest Anglo-Scandinavian feature was a pit or rubbish pit dated to the 9th or early 10th century Its backfill was later truncated by a second pit which contained demolition or clearance material. A garderobe was found to be backfilled with a number of deposits, clearly of manure, or foul waste origin, some of which contained pottery dateable to the 10th or 11th century. The area appreared to be in the back yard of a property during this period and this function continued through the medieval period. A number of pits and dumps were dated to this period. In the post medieval period the area was crossed by two fence lines perhaps erected to divide up the area into properties. This boundary fence appears to have been replaced by a brick built boundary wall or wall to a property behind Little Stonegate. A number of deep 18th century walls, the construction cut for a late 18th or early 19th century cellar for the “Methodist Chapel Cottage”, as well as the 19th century construction cut for the Primitive Methodist Chapel then, disturbed the area. A number of 20th century service trenches were also encountered.
• P0510 1-5 Davygate and 9 Little Stonegate
  An evaluative excavation recorded deposits which dated from the 10th to the 20th century and demonstrated a complex development history of occupation with timber framed buildings and workshops where metal working took place. The upper levels had been disturbed by 19th century service trenches and modern construction on the site. A larger scale excavation of the area uncovered a sequence of occupation of the area from the 10th - 18th century. Including the complex development history of timber-framed structures part of which were workshops in which metal working seems to have taken place during the period 13th - 18th century. A watching brief found further evidence of medieval occupation including a hearth together with timber lined pits and dumps in backyard areas. A further watching brief monitored 140 separate machine excavated interventions which allowed the provisional reconstruction of the ground plan of a Roman barrack block. Anglo Scandinavian occupation deposits were recorded together with medieval occupation and sutuctural remains on the Little Stonegate and Davygate street frontages.
• A0873 Imphal Barracks, Fulford Road, York
  Earlier barrack building foundations and a parade ground were observed.
• A0021 The Bedern, south-west
  Significant observations were made of Roman barracks in the legionary fortress, a defensive ditch, and later of pits, though to date to the Anglo-Scandinavian period, and traces of a timber structure.
• A0086 The Bedern, north-east
  Traces of Roman structures were excavated in an area truncated by post-medieval cellaring. The earliest medieval feature was a barrel well, truncated by a ditch which dated to the first part of the 13th century. These features were superseded by four phases of building which pre-dated the building of the college. The first building was represented only by a deposit of ash covering heavily burnt clay. The area appears to have been left derelict for a period prior to the construction of a second building. This building was represented by clay floors interleaved with layers of charcoal. Part of a stone wall was the only evidence of the stone building which superseded the probably timber built buildings. The stone and cobble foundations of three walls of the fourth phase of building survived. A hearth and cess pits were also recorded. This last phase of building was levelled. The land had been acquired by the mid 13th century by the College of the Vicars Choral. Two buildings have been identified as associated with the first phase of College occupation of the site. The most impressive of these was a large aisled structure parallel to the north-east side of The Bedern. The timber-framed walls were set upon continuous limestone sill foundations. Various small construction spreads of limestone rubble and cobbles were associated with this building. Occupation of this building was evident from a number of contemporary latrine pits and other pits. Towards the end of the 13th century internal modifications to the early buildings of the college began. Over the next fifty years the college underwent an almost continual round of alterations and rebuilding. From the middle of the 14th century there was extensive remodelling of earlier buildings and the construction of several new ones. The continued expansion of the college and the need to upgrade the accommodation probably led to this move. In the period from the later 14th century - early 15th century there was further rebuilding, on a slightly different alignment and with walls almost twice the thickness. Associated cess pits and rubbish pits were located. No major building was constructed during the period from the mid 15th century until the early 17th century. Some of the buildings fell into decline. A 16th century building in the north-eastern part of the site was demolished and there appeared to be little sign of other new activity on the north-east side of Bedern Close.
• A0087 Aldwark, adjacent to 1-5
  The earliest traces of occupation on this site date to the 1st century AD and come from traces of timber buildings which were replaced with stone buildings in the 2nd century. Later Roman occupation was not recorded on the site, and the next period of activity, following a clearance, occurred in the 11th century and was represented by three cobble spreads, cut by two slots, and by some pits. Roman defences were refurbished with the formation of a clay and brushwood bank which overlay the cobble spreads, and to the south of it a ditch of U-shaped profile, some 7m deep, contained material which dated it to the 12th-13th century. Buildings dating to the 14th century on the Aldwark street frontage with hearths and ovens were recorded. It appears that the defensive bank or rampart was heightened during this period. 14th-15th century buildings with backyards and a barrel-lined well, which was superseded by a square well in the 15th-16th century, continue the medieval tenement development in the area. Post-medieval buildings indicate slightly less intensive occupation and so reusing of the medieval building materials.
• A0012 Museum Street/Lendal (Interval Tower SW5)
  A sample area of the late Roman intervallum road, which had a stone-lined drain along its inner edge, was investigated. Part of a contemporary barrack block was also encountered. On the site of the interval tower rampart material was found pre-dating the tower, and a part of the fortress wall. Evidence was found for a timber interval tower, which was later replaced by one built of stone. A part of the legionary fortress curtain wall contemporary with the tower was found. Roman occupation of the area continued through to the 4th century. A small pit may have dated to the Anglian period. The footings for the corner of a stone building possibly dating to the 14th-15th century were located. Pits and wells dating through the 12th-15th century indicate continuous medieval occupation in the area. Extensive cellars and foundations of the 19th century York Festival Concert Rooms was the latest phase of construction on the site.