York Archaeological Trust
The evaluative excavations show that, beneath modern and postmedieval deposits, medieval deposits occur as high as 7.35m AOD (1.5m below the surface), sloping down to 6.80m AOD (2.15m below the surface) to the south-east. The overall thickness of the archaeological deposits is between 2.3m and 3.5m, depending on the height of natural, which varies between 3.6m and 5.Om AOD.
The level of ground-water varied across the site, from as high as about 7.Om AOD (Trench 2 and Borehole 4) down to around 5.Om AOD (Boreholes 3, 6 and 7).
The evaluative trenches did not penetrate to a depth where Roman or earlier deposits might have been encountered. However, if the site was dry ground at that time, as postulated above (3.2), it is possible that there was occupation, perhaps waterfront activity.
The trenches probably did not reach the depth at which Anglian or Anglo-Scandinavian deposits occur. However, the deposits at the bottom of Trenches 2 (below 6.30m AOD) and 3 (below 6.Om AOD) did not produce any pottery later than the Roman and Anglo-Scandinavian periods respectively, and it therefore remains possible that these deposits pre-date the medieval period. It is considered more likely that the small amount of pottery obtained is residual, and that Anglian and Anglo-Scandinavian deposits would be a little deeper. Nevertheless, Anglian or Anglo-Scandinavian activity on the site remains a distinct possibility.
Dumps of waste at about 5.40m AOD probably represent dumping into the King's Fishpool early in the medieval period.
The timber revetment in Trench 3 is thought to have formed a quay on the north side of the King's Fishpool and is tentatively identified as that built by the Carmelite Friars following the royal grant of 1314, as noted in the documentary survey above (2.5). If so, it shows that the Friars had greatly increased the size of their precinct from the original grant of 1299-1300, by reclaiming the gently sloping land along the margins of the King's Fishpool (Fig. 7). The timber structure in Trench 2 hints at activity on this newly-reclaimed land. However, during the late medieval/early post-medieval period, the area was again subject to flooding.
In Trench 2, dumps of building and industrial debris, as well as domestic rubbish, occurring between 6.4m and 6.8m AOD, appear to reflect historical evidence of the use of the Hungate area as a rubbish dump, particularly in the 16th century, just after the friary was dissolved. Indeed, it is possible that the building debris, incorporating a relatively large number of glazed floor tiles as well as stone architectural fragments - indicating a high-status building - was derived from demolition of the friary complex.
The thick dumps overlying the revetment in Trench 3, reaching a height of 7.75m AOD, raised the ground level and encroached further south into the King's Fishpool. In view of the absence from this trench of the 16th century rubbish dumps observed in Trench 2, it is conceivable that they were t h p f irgt to be deposited, forming an embankment, with the rubbish dumps representing in-fill of the lower-lying land behind. Certainly, the extensive layer of post-medieval building material debris overlying all of these dumps is much thicker in Trench 2 than in Trench 3, indicating a desire to level off the newly-reclaimed land. Even so, this topographic irregularity is still evident in the post-medieval garden soil overlying the rubble layer. In Trench 1, the top of the garden soil was at 8.3m AOD, and in Trench 3 it was as high as 8.6m AOD, but it was no more than 8.1m AOD in Trench 2.
19th century brick buildings and dumps were observed in Trench 2, and thoroughly investigated in Trench 1. These deposits had been levelled at about 8.8m AOD to form the existing ground surface.
At the north-east end of the site, however, they survived to a height of 9.1m AOD, beneath the raised floor of the existing warehouse-cum-office building. There was no evidence of any. substantial disturbance of earlier deposits.