York Archaeology Online Collections

Items

• P6035 Moxy Hotel Development, Dundas Street
  The investigations were largely focused in the northern half of the site where significant archaeology was known from the 2012 and 2016 YAT excavations. Watching brief monitoring in the southern half the site, including the crane base, confirmed that the slope towards the River Foss was more pronounced in antiquity and earlier deposition, as a consequence, is at a much greater depth. Although it was the intention to preserve this important structure in situ, the investigation and removal of the majority of the best-preserved and extensive structural element of Building 1, the south-west wall, has afforded an opportunity to better understand the building and its morphology. In time, following post-excavation analysis, it should be possible to ascertain the construction date of the building from carbon dating and tree ring analysis As well as Building 2, the probable 13th-century extension to the north of Building 1, exposed in 2012, a number of late-medieval structures and deposits point to extensive other alterations to the building, while the robber cut to the south suggests the building was demolished in stages as the larger building became unusable. Analysis of the archaeological material recovered from this watching brief and excavation will undoubtedly contribute significantly to our understanding not only of this medieval building but also of the development of medieval stone buildings in York from the Norman period and later.
• P1102 Land off Bondgate, Otley, West Yorkshire
  This archaeological assessment was carried out by York Archaeological Trust in April 2003 for Henry Riley on behalf of J. Sainsbury plc in respect of a potential supermarket development site off Bondgate, Otley, West Yorkshire. In January 2004 this study has been extended to cover an additional area for proposed development to the east. The study has indicated the development of settlement at Otley from the earliest times to the present day. The proposed development site at Bondgate and Gay Lane occupies a part of seven linear plots, or tofts which are known to have been established in the medieval period and may well have an earlier origin. In the medieval period buildings would have occupied the Bondgate street frontage with the open ground, at the rear of plots, likely to have been cultivated. Post-medieval buildings are known to have occupied the Gay Lane street frontage and there is a possibility of earlier occupation on this street. In the 19th-20th centuries there has been a certain amount of infilling with additional building to the rear of the street front properties; these later buildings may well have truncated earlier below- ground deposits to some degree. Never the less the assessment of the archaeological and historical evidence suggests the strong likelihood of the preservation of potentially significant deposits, relating to the core of the medieval and possibly earlier settlement of Otley. As a result an archaeological restraint was placed along with planning permission for the original area of development and a similar constraint is likely to be extended to include the additional area of proposed development to the east. The study also found that changes on the development site, lying partly within the Otley Conservation Area and adjacent to the medieval church and significant post-medieval buildings, are likely to have an impact on the setting for these buildings and that this will also be taken into account by the planning process.
• P5848 Rutson Hospital, Northallerton
• P5584 Former Hostel & Haymarket Car Park, Dundas Street
• P5370 Wentworth Woodhouse, Wentworth
• P5313 Former Osborn Mushet Works, 100 Penistone Road, Sheffield
• P5319 Shepherd Wheel, River Porter Valley, Sheffield
• P1273 Manor Farm House, Cawton
• P1262 Former Walkergate Infants School, New Walkergate, Beverley
• P1110.1 Stayley Hall, Howard Street, Stalybridge
• P1296 House and Son
• P5752 Archaeology Live! All Saints Church, North Street
• P5280 Land at Galmanhoe Lane, York
  An archaeological evaluation was undertaken between 7th and 12th October 2009 at the former YAT Wet Wood Laboratory on Galmanhoe Lane, York. A single trench measuring 4m x 2m was excavated to a depth of 1.25m below ground level. A former ground surface of post-medieval date was encountered, which contained an animal burial and was overlain by a 0.60m thick garden soil, also of post medieval origin. The area remained undeveloped until the mid 20th century, when a sequence of structures culminating in the current building was constructed at the above location.
• P5250 St William's College, College Street, York
  St William’s College, Building Recording Archaeological observations in two small first floor rooms of the SE range of St William’s College, York, recorded elements of the original timber framing, its articulation with the stone built ground floor and evidence for the former division of internal space. Later, post medieval, development of the building, included the replacement of some joists, the insertion of a timber staircase – and its later redundancy, together with the insertion of a fireplace, and wall.
• P5244 Sewerage Attenuation Tank, 28-40 Blossom Street, York
  ASSESSMENT A 2.8m deep excavation at 28-40 Blossom Street conducted between 30th June and 14th August 2009 encountered natural glacial deposits at 13.22-13.06m AOD, overlain by six phases of Roman activity dating from the late 1st to the late 4th centuries AD, 3 phases of medieval deposits and 2 phases of post-medieval and modern activity. Roman activity consisted of 1st/2nd century ditches and a small road, mid 2nd/early 3rd century levelling and possible industrial and funerary activity, major 3rd century levelling and possible structures and a mid/late 4th century clearance and building. Of specific interest are the early ditches which have potential parallels nearby, the possibility of mid2nd/early 3rd century funerary features given the proximity of the site to known cemetaries, and the apparent lack of any trace of the main road from Eboracum to Calcaria, thought to lie immediately north-west of the excavation. The absence of clear road-side structures akin to those encountered in earlier excavations in this area until the late 4th century building may have significance for future studies of this area. Also of interest is the extensive amount of material used in both phases of levelling, derived from a mixture of industrial, domestic and funerary sources, which have the potential to refine understanding of Roman activity in the wider Blossom Street area. Post-Roman activity was limited to evidence of 11th-13th century ‘back-land’ agricultural activity, overlain by 1m of medieval ploughsoil and the remains of nineteenth century buildings demolished in the 1960s. ANALYSIS The analysis phase of this investigation has resulted in a refinement of the original assessment phasing and interpretation. Activity commenced on this site with a late 1st/early 2nd century AD agricultural landscape, with a small road running perpendicular to the supposed main route into the civilian settlement from the south-west. The area south-west of this road was at the edge of a possible cremation cemetery in the early 3rd century AD, which seems to have gone out of use by the mid 3rd century, when a substantial levelling event using re-deposited 2nd century material occurred, with refuse pits and dumps, and a small post built structure with a cobbled surface was erected in the late 3rd century. This activity was then sealed by levelling deposits and the yard and post holes of a large timber building of early 4th century date. Its remains were heavily truncated by a clearance event in the late 11th century AD that removed any in-situ evidence for late and post-Roman activity, the presence of which was inferred from the quantity of residual material in later deposits.
• P5239 Buxton Crescent and Spa
  The thermal spring waters at Buxton have been exploited since the Roman period most prominently during the late 18th century when The Crescent was built by John Carr for the Fifth Duke of Devonshire as the focal point of a health / leisure spa resort. It flourished in the 19th century although declined during the 20th, portions of the building being used variously as hotel, hospital and latterly council offices and library. The building has been empty for many years and it is now intended to be developed as a modern high quality hotel complex integrated with the adjacent natural spa. Given the high potential for below ground remains of significant Roman, medieval and post medieval archaeology a series of exploratory trial pits and evaluation trenches were excavated to help to establish the engineering environment prior to redevelopment. The investigations demonstrated that to accommodate The Crescent and adjacent buildings a large level terrace was excavated to the natural shale. In the process the site of what is thought to have been a bath of possible Roman date, first uncovered in the 1690s was disturbed and the debris utilised in the footings of the building. In addition the location of a medieval well described by antiquarians and thought to be on an earlier Roman structure was identified. There is still potential for significant remains to survive in these locations. The work demonstrated the value of an integrated multidisciplinary approach combining historic building analysis, archaeological evaluation with hydro-geology. The project also showed the importance of using of archaeology and building analysis as a primary investigative tool as part of a development design.
• P0742 Hungate Development, Trench 25
  See 2000.1-14 YORYM One of 14 individual site codes of the Hungate Development.
• P0742 Hungate Development, Trench 8
  See 2000.1-14 YORYM One of 14 individual site codes of the Hungate Development.
• P0742 Hungate Development, Trench 24
  See 2000.1-14 YORYM One of 14 individual site codes of the Hungate Development.
• P0742 Hungate Development, Trench 20
  See 2000.1-14 YORYM One of 14 individual site codes of the Hungate Development.
• 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.
• P0798/P0838 Land off Lord Mayor's Walk and Clarence Street
  The desk top study identified the likelihood that Roman and medieval remains would survive beneath the existing coach park surface but that there would have been significant truncation resulting from 19th century terraced housing on parts of the site. In the medieval period the site was part of the Horsefair but cartographic evidence suggests that at least one significant building may have stood on the site. An evaluative excavation on the site found residual Roman pottery suggesting the survival of Roman deposits below the level reached by excavation. Deposits up to 1.50m thick were dated to the medieval period. Some of this material represented plough soils. Part of this material may have been the upcast resulting from digging the city wall ditch, or alternatively may have resulted from cleaning the ditch out. Modern activity on the site was extensive. It was mainly in the form of the construction and subsequent demolition of buildings, known to be domestic housing. A brick culvert and a cellar associated with the Victorian housing on the site.
• 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.
• P0780 53 Piccadilly
  In the eastern part of the site archaeological deposits had been truncated by late 19th century buildings which have subsequently been demolished. In the western part of the site a series of dumps was seen to slope down towards the west, following the natural topography of the site. Pottery recovered from this material had a date range from the Roman period to the medieval period but the date of deposition is thought to be later medieval or post medieval.
• P0770 Electrical Substation, York Railway HQ, Station Rise
  Deposits seen in the base of some of the deeper intrusions in Trench 1 were thought to be Roman in date. 12th century activity on the site was represented mainly in the form of pits, including possible lime-mixing pits together with possible postholes and clay spreads which could be the remnants of insubstantial buildings away from the medieval street of Tanner Row. Post medieval deposits were found to have been truncated by 19th and 20th century construction.