York Archaeological Trust
Group 1 consists only of Trench 1, which was located between the Peasholme Centre and the Ambulance Station, close to Dundas Street. The trench was located in this area on the basis of the results of earlier archaeological excavations at the Haymarket site (Y.A.T. site code 1986.14, Brinklow 1986 and 1987, Kemp 1990). The Haymarket excavations revealed part of the robbed out northern and western walls, and the interior of the medieval parish church of All Saints, Peasholme Green, which was demolished in 1589-1590. Within the church were associated burials, at heights of between 10.40m and 10.99m Above Ordnance Datum (AOD). The south wall of the church lay outside the area excavated in 1986, and it was hoped that either the extent of the church or part of the associated burial ground would be recovered within Trench 1, which was located less than 3m to the south-east of the earlier excavations.
Trench 1, which measured 3.20m x 1.60m, was excavated by machine to a maximum depth of 9.47m AOD. The present ground surface in the area is at c.11.00m AOD.
The earliest deposits in Trench 1, which were located at between 9.47m AOD and 10.75m AOD, consisted of compact grey-orange clay with frequent pebbles and cobbles (context 1008) and a deposit of orange sand (context 1007). These deposits were totally devoid of finds and could be interpreted as either naturally occurring or deliberately dumped 'clean' deposits such as quarry sand/gravel. The latter interpretation seems more likely, as natural deposits were not located at similar depths in the earlier Haymarket archaeological excavations. A modern service pipe trench (context 1006) which was vertically sided, 0.53m wide and 0.70m deep, truncated context 1007. Cut 1006 contained a ceramic service pipe 0.25m in diameter (context 1005) and an orange clayey-sand backfill (context 1004).
Sealing the entire trench was a dumped demolition deposit of brown sandy clay, cobbles and brick fragments (context 1003), which acted as the levelling beneath a tarmac surface (context 1002). Above context 1002 was the tarmac surface for the present car park (context 1001).
Figure 3 Trench 1 - South-east facing section Scale 1:20
The lack of medieval burials in Trench 1 was unexpected. All of the deposits in Trench 1 are interpreted as being of modern date. Context 1007/1008 is best interpreted as modern dumping perhaps associated with the construction of the ambulance station in the 1950's. This would imply that prior to the construction of the ambulance station the entire area was levelled and sands/gravels were dumped to create an even surface. All medieval deposits have clearly been removed from the area of Trench 1, but it is impossible to say how widespread this destruction was. It is known that burials were found when the ambulance station was built, but their number and precise location is unknown. Contexts 1004-1006 were associated with a modern service pipe and contexts 1001-1003 correspond to the laying of the present car park surface.
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