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A0840 Broad Lane, North Street FAS
A riverside wall, approximately 6m to the west of the modern river bank and of possible medieval date was recorded. Post-medieval buildings were observed built against the landward side of the wall. Another building was constructed on the riverside of the wall indicating that the river wall had been replaced by another nearer to the river.
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.
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.
A0614 29-31 Skeldergate
18th/19th century cellars were encountered. Large scale dumping to raise the ground level between this building and the river was encountered. At 31 Skeldergate a cobble and brick surface of a water lane which sloped down towards the river was uncovered. A date for the construction was not established but it went out of use in the 2nd half of the 18th century when it was sealed by dumps prior to the construction of a cellared building which was itself demolished in the 19th century. In a test pit a large area of mortared limestone blocks was seen 3.75m beneath the surface and 5.6m from the present river wall. This may be a part of the medieval river wall excavated at both the Albion Wharf and City Mills sites also on Skeldergate.
A0656 5-7 Coney Street (River Wall)
A record was made of the river wall.
A0340 Museum Gardens boreholes
Observation of a borehole core indicated the possible presence of a river wall. Organic material and silts were also observed to a depth of 3.25m.
A0833 Flood Alleviation Pumping Station, North Street, York
"The excavation, within a 6m diameter shaft to house a pumping station for the River Ouse flood alleviation scheme, provided a well stratified closely dated sequence demonstrating changes in river/land management and waterfront activities from the 2nd century to the 15th century. The earliest features dated to the 2nd century, the most significant of which was a robbed deeply piled foundation trench for a river retaining wall. Three sandstone blocks parallel to the wall may have been associated with or have formed part of a replacement waterfront structure. Two larger blocks may have been part of a riverside building. All the Roman structural elements were completely sealed by a substantial deposit of alluvium, 0.20m - 0.70m deep. This may represent a single large flood event, or several smaller episodes. A long series of land management strategies using wattle hurdle fences and revetment timbers was revealed in the post-Roman period. The earliest wattle structure, a fence line running parallel to the River Ouse, was found collapsed under dumped deposits which dated to the 8th century. The sequence of dumped deposits was found interleaved with alluvial deposits. These deposits were highly organic and contained domestic debris, industrial waste and the redeposited demolition debris. They were cut by a terrace and wattle was used to consolidate the surface of the plateau of the terrace and wattle hurdles were used to revet the bank. Material appears to have quickly accumulated on the terrace, filling it and sealing the wattle structure, continuing the dumping activity and dating to the 9th century. The most elaborate wattle revetment structure was constructed on a pebble and stone surface and comprised five lines of wattle hurdles which each closely followed the river bank and horizontal wattle held in position at the base of the slope by larger revetting timbers. Two further phases of structural activity using wattle were identified. An interesting departure in the form of revetment occurred in the 11th century, and may be considered an attempt at land reclamation. Timbers were used to define three sides of a rectangle, and material was used to deliberately infill the rectangle. The nature of the material dumped on the river bank maintained a similar character through the 11th and 12th century. Timbers were used to stabilise the river bank in this period. Dumping, interspersed with alluvial deposits, continued to build up during the 13th century with the surface of the ground gradually becoming level. At this point, it can be surmised that from the change in use of the land, a riverside wall had been constructed to the east of the excavated trench. Part of the foundations of a building and associated floors, and contemporary build-up outside the building were recorded and a later wall foundation also dated to the 13th century. It is not possible to interpret the precise form of these buildings from the available evidence, but they appeared to be of modest scale. Three large post-pits and a robbed wall foundation indicated the construction of a larger building on the site, which was covered by shallow build-up and a night-soil pit feature which dated to the 14th/15th century. All later material was truncated by 19th century development of the site."
A0359 Museum Gardens (Flood Defences)
The first trench uncovered the remains of a 19th century open air swimming bath. Subsequent activities of workmen resulted in the collapse of part of the inner face of the Abbey's precinct wall, which showed evidence of robbing post dating the Dissolution of the Abbey in 1539. Further trenches were dug between the Hospitium and the river. These recover stretches of the Abbey precinct wall and structural remains which were interpreted as the vestiges of kitchens and other offices of the Abbey, mentioned by Drake.
A0606 Albion Wharf, 23-28 Skeldergate
A deep 3m square shaft sited over a proposed pile cluster was excavated to natural sub-soil, encountering a maximum of 9m of archaeological deposits. Evidence was found of structural activity on the river bank in the Roman period. Above this was a build-up of material, organic lenses interleaved with alluvial silts, suggesting the accumulation of material in waterlogged conditions separated by episodes of flooding and pointing to marginal use in the Anglian period. Anglian pottery was found on site. A timber revetment, dating to the Anglo-Scandinavian period was revealed. A mixture of dumping and build-up in the 11th and 12th centuries was then succeeded by the construction of a substantial limestone wall of 12th century date, running parallel to the river. There appeared to be no deposits contemporary with the use of this river wall. A large robbing cut broke through the body of the wall. Demolition and dumped deposits dated this episode to the 14th century. Dumping continued in this area through the 15th century. Some attempt to drain the land was made in the 16th century. Garden deposits, also found in a larger excavation were encountered approximately 1m below ground surface. These gardens, garden features and buildings, documentary sources suggest, belonged to the house of the 18th century York architect John Carr. A later phase of building was likely to represent a 19th century warehouse.
A0276 Skeldergate, Pawsons Warehouse
The excavation encountered the 17th century building, a sugar refinery, known to have been located on the site. A furnace and rooms which contained lime used in the processing of sugar were recorded. The rear wall of the refinery was found to have been placed on the alignment of the 14th century river wall. Beneath dumping dated to the 16th century on the landward side of the river wall a medieval watergate was encountered.
A0052 39-41 Coney Street (W.H. Smith)
Several phases of Roman occupation of this river bank site comprised two successive timber structures dated to the late 1st-early 2nd century, and slight traces of other, later structures. The area was replanned in the mid 3rd century with the introduction of a road with gutter which ran parallel to the river. This remained in use until at least the late 4th century. There was also a medieval wall on the crest of the river terrace and evidence of post-medieval land reclamation from the river, including the construction of a slipway or river wall and watergate. A sequence of 17th-18th century structural remains was located.