York Archaeology Online Collections

Items

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• P5479 Utility trench outside 3-4 to 15-16 Clementhorpe, York
  No features or buried structural remains were noted during these works and the only below ground level deposit which was recorded, Context 1000, is likely to be a garden soil of relatively modern origin. It is not believed that any archaeology of significance was disturbed during these works but the clean nature of Context 1000 does suggest that intact archaeology may well survive in this area below modern deposits and services.
• 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.
• 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.
• P5459 Electric Sub-station, York Minster Stoneyard, Deangate, York
  An excavation conducted at the York Minster Stoneyard encountered early 18th century construction activity and a mid 18th century building forming part of the prebendary of Strensall. The late 19th/early 20th century landscape clearance for the creation of Deangate and the current Stoneyard buildings was also identified.
• P5424 Land to Rear of Festival Flats
  Evaluation (Ian Milsted): Two evaluation trenches encountered possible Roman terracing cut into natural deposits. Also present were a probable Roman ditch and occupation soil, which was truncated by medieval activity including rubbish pits which produced 11th-12th century pottery. A substantial 19th century ground make-up deposit sealed all earlier activity and there was some limited evidence of later structures. Watching brief (David Evans): During these works no finds were recovered. Due to a redesign of the construction of the new car parking area the only area where it was considered likely that any significant archaeology might be encountered was towards the base of the new ramp but examination of this area when exposed revealed that modern drains had removed most of any archaeology that may have been present. No features were observed here or elsewhere and the overall strip did not fully penetrate clearly modern deposits. A small amount of the medieval agricultural soil was removed during the excavation of the ramp but other than this it is not believed that archaeological deposits or features of any great significance were disturbed and features such as those recorded in the evaluation remain buried below the new car park.
• P5420 15 Monk Bar Court, York
  A quick inspection of the site showed that at the location of the borehole demolition material had been used to raise the ground level within a now demolished building by at least 1.4m. Below this Context 1005 may represent the remains of a floor within the demolished structure. Below this level the slightly clayey silts, Contexts 1002 – 4 almost certainly represent medieval build-up deposits, certainly a small fragment of 12th century gritty ware was recovered from Context 1002. The depth and nature of the clean clayey sand deposit indicates that this is almost certainly Roman stratigraphy. This directly overlay the natural clay which lay at a depth of 4.6m below the level of Monk Bar Court. The observed sequence matches quite well other sequences seen in the area and indicates that below modern and possibly post-medieval disturbance there are intact deposits of at least Roman and medieval date on the site. The observations of the test pits were less productive mainly due to their relatively shallow penetration into possibly disturbed material. It was, however, noted that the foundations of the walls being investigated were very variable in depth, those in Test Pit 2 coming to an end just 0.05m below the existing ground surface compared to 0.3m in Test Pit 4.
• P5372 Utility trench, Bishophill Junior to Fetter Lane, York
  Most of the contexts seen during this watching brief were probably relatively modern in date. The only exceptions would be the possible build-up / levelling deposit, 1008, and old road surface, 1009, seen in Section 3 and even these need be of no great age since there is plentiful photographic evidence of such surfaces surviving well into the 20th century, especially in the less busy roads such as Bishophill Junior and Fetter Lane. Despite the trench passing directly beside the boundary wall of the graveyard of St Mary’s Church, believed to have been larger in the past, no disturbed human bone was noted from the trench at any point and it would thus appear that modern service excavations have not disturbed any burials from the presumed enlarged graveyard in the area of the works. It can therefore be stated that no archaeological remains were disturbed during the current works.
• P5338 Utility Trenches, 14 Agar Street, York
  Three trenches dug by machine for the connection of services to a new development were observed and recorded during this watching brief undertaken on 22 February 2010. The majority of the deposits recorded from the trenches were clearly modern but Contexts 1000 and 1002 may have been slightly disturbed build-up deposits. No dating evidence was recovered for these deposits but previous work in the immediate vicinity has shown that similar deposits can be dated to the broadly medieval period. The cobbles, 1006, seen in Section 3 almost certainly represent a previous road surface of uncertain, but possibly 19th century, date. Overall it is believed that no archaeology of any great significance was disturbed during these works.
• P5252 Utility trench, Lowther Terrace, York
  Although no finds were recovered from these trenches it was clear that most of the deposits exposed were of relatively modern origin. No features or buried structural remains were noted although the small size of many of the trenches made recognition of any archaeologically significant remains difficult. A few of the lower, cleaner deposits such as 1002 and 1017 may possibly have been premodern horticultural or agricultural soils but this cannot be confirmed. Overall it is believed that nothing of any archaeological significance was disturbed during these works.
• P5251 Utility trench, Robin Grove, York
  No finds were recovered from any of the trenches so any dating remains speculative. Context 1000 in Trench 4 and Context 1007 in Trench 16 were probably both natural and their relative proximity to the modern ground surface compared to the trenches in the gardens may indicate that topsoil has been brought in to raise the level of the gardens. The lower mid brown silts seen in Trenches 4 and 11 may be pre-modern agricultural soils although might be the product of modern landscaping. The possible ditch seen in Trench 16 is of some interest since it does seem to indicate that buried cut features can and do survive in the area which has been the subject of little or no archaeological recording in the past. Overall it would appear that the works have caused relatively little damage to the archaeology of the area and have provided a hint of the potential for remains of at least moderate archaeological interest surviving in this part of York.
• P5234 Utility trench, Stonegate to Blake Street, York
  Since the excavated trenches broadly followed the line of the gas main or its spurs it is, perhaps, not surprising that the vast majority of the observed and recorded contexts were clearly of modern origin. No features or buried structures were seen at any point along the line of the works. A few contexts, 1017 in Trench 9, 1028 in Trench 14, 1041 in Trench 19, 1048 in Trench 21, 1054 in Trench 22, 1064 in Trench 24 and 1072 in Trench 26 could possibly have been build up deposits but due to the small size of many of the trenches this cannot be confirmed. However, it is of some interest to note that five of these seven possible build-up deposits occurred within trenches along Little Stonegate which may hint at a better state of preservation of archaeological deposits in the Little Stonegate area compared to Stonegate. Overall it is believed that no serious damage was done to any deposits, features or structures of any great archaeological significance.
• P5231 Utility trench, St Leonard's Place, High Petergate, York
  No deposits, features or structures of any great archaeological significance were noted during this watching brief but since the trenches were targeted on the gas main and its spurs this might be expected. All the deposits noted were of fairly modern origin, with the possible exception of Context 1011 in Trench 9, and their mixed nature suggested that below the modern road surface all deposits down to c.1.4m BGL were either backfills in service trenches or levelling deposits. Context 1011 could possibly be a build-up deposit but too little of it was seen to be sure of this. It is of some interest, however, to note that Trenches 2, 3 and 9 were recorded as containing moderate or frequent amounts of limestone, sometimes in the form of medium-sized blocks, within them together with moderate quantities of pale brown mortar. These are the trenches are those closest to the line of the medieval city wall, partly demolished in the 1830s to make way for the construction of St Leonard’s Place and it would appear that some of the stone from the demolished wall has been used to level and raise the ground level immediately prior to the construction of the road. It is considered that no archaeological remains of any great note were encountered or disturbed during this watching brief.
• P5230 Utility Trench, 22-68 Marygate, York
  It was evident that the majority of deposits seen were relatively modern although in many of the trenches there was a fairly clean dark brown silt which may be a buried pre-modern agricultural deposit. At no point were any features or buried structures noted and it must be concluded that no archaeology of any great significance was encountered or disturbed.
• P5219 Utility Trench, 10 St. Sampson's Square, York
  During a watching brief monitoring an excavation for the installation of a new water feed to 10 St Sampson\'s Square, York a mortared limestone wall, possibly aligned north-east / south-west, was observed. It had foundations of cobbles set in sandy clay. It appeared to cut a build-up deposit. No dating evidence was recovered but the construction of the wall may indicate a medieval date. It probably belonged to a building demolished or cut back during enlargement of St Sampson's Square, possibly c.1835 when the present Church Street was constructed.
• P0774 48 St Andrewgate
  Medieval deposits were found which represented activity including waste disposal to the rear of medieval buildings fronting St Andrewgate. A sunken brick structure appears to have been a structure to the rear of the early 19th century Anglesey Arms, a plot now largely occupied by 46 St Andrewgate.
• P0777/P0824 Former Concrete Works, Leeman Road
  Fourteen test pits and seven bore holes were observed as a watching brief. Modern dumping was recorded to a depth of up to 2m above natural over the majority of the site. In one trench c. 0.10m depth of build up which was possibly of post medieval date was recorded. Further work examined eight evaluation trenches. In one of these trenches, close to Leeman Road, the base of an old plough soil was identified. This deposit included Roman and post medieval pottery. The majority of the deposits which were encountered industrial waste including ash and cinders together with building and structural debris. In addition some deposits were redeposited natural. This material was all interpreted as modern infilling and levelling of a sloping ground surface associated with railway construction and works. See also desk top study 2000.2 YORAT
• P0748 5 Dewsbury Terrace
  A number of bones were found by contractors below the floor level of a basement whilst cleaning around the top of pressure piles that had recently been sunk against the sides of load-bearing walls in order to consolidate the building. The bones were animal and fish bones and the deposits from which the bones were derived appear likely, on the basis of the three sherds of pottery recovered, to be of medieval date. The origin of the deposits is likely to be of either build-up or dumping during the medieval period.
• 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.
• P0708 98 Micklegate
  During the course of work carried out to insert a new floor a watching brief recorded a backfilled cellar which probably penetrated up to c.2m below the present modern ground level. To the north-west and south-east of this cellar probable build-up deposits were observed which may have dated from the post-medieval period or possibly earlier.
• P0537 Malton Fire Station
  Deposits recorded in a test pit comprised material from which Roman pottery was recovered and was interpreted as in situ archaeological deposition. This was sealed by c. 1m of modern build-up and levelling deposits.