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P5344 City Walls, Lord Mayors Walk, Chainage 2100-2240, York
In all of the trenches the depth reached could be shown to be greater than the point at which the lower, and presumably original, part of the City Wall was constructed. There was poor correlation between depth and date although upper deposits in most trenches did tend to produce a 19th or 20th century date. In Trench 1 Context 1017 produced only Roman pottery and tile and may possibly be the uppermost surviving part of the Roman rampart although its proximity to the base of the medieval wall could weigh against this. Alternatively it could be re used Roman material used to repair the rampart in the Viking age or Norman period. In Trench 2 the earliest deposit recorded, the pre-medieval wall rampart deposit Context 2004 was dated to the late 15th century. Since the lower part of the wall in this area should date to the 13th century this is a problem although the date was based on two small pieces of pot which could be intrusive or to extensive reworking of the rampart hereabouts, a view possibly supported by a later deposit being dated to the 18th century and an even higher deposit being dated to the late 12th century. The date of the masonry is uncertain but should be the same as the lower part of the wall and certainly earlier than the 18th century. It is therefore likely that it is part of the lost Tower 29. No dating material was recovered from any of the lower deposits within Trench 3. The late 17th date for 3012 may be inaccurate since it was believed that the original wall footings cut this deposit. Again intrusive pottery or reworking of the rampart at this point may be the explanation. This is almost certainly the case in Trenches 4 and 5 where Contexts 4001 and 5001 lay below the wall footings but produced pottery of the 19th / 20th century. In Trench 6 Contexts 6005 and 6006 produced Roman tile and Context 6005 a single sherd of undated gritty ware. Both deposits clearly pre dated the construction and as with Context 1017 may be part of the Roman rampart although as in Trench 1 these deposits are still quite close to the base of the medieval wall. Although a good amount of useful information was gained from these trial holes, including the probable site of Tower 29, important questions concerning the Roman gateway and adjacent defences remain unresolved. The only realistic way of answering the remaining questions would be a much larger and deeper trench or series of trenches along this section of the City Wall.
A0320 Toft Green
The rebuilding of city bank retaining wall was observed.
A0292 City Bank, Toft Green
An 18th century brick wall was removed by contractors and it was observed to have truncated the City Wall rampart. Some signs of an earlier, medieval building were seen also to have been cut into the rampart.