York Archaeological Trust
In March 1999 York Archaeological Trust carried out a watching brief on the coring of nine probe-holes at Henly’s Garage on The Stonebow, York (NGR SE 6070 5187). The work was carried out on behalf of Waterman Environmental Consulting Engineers, as part of the first stage of a pre-planning application contamination survey of the site (Figure 1), which spans both sides of The Stonebow. The building situated on the western side of the survey area was formally a petrol station but is now a second hand car showroom, whereas on the eastern side the present buildings are still used as a car repair workshop and new car sales outlet.
The contamination probe-hole survey was based on a small sample of the development area and consisted of nine probe-holes, each 0.06m in diameter. Three were positioned within the area of the former petrol station, on the western side of the development area and the other six were either within the car repair workshop or immediately to the east of it in an area which is currently a private car park.
All nine probe-holes were investigated using 1.00m and 2.00m sectional cylindrical metal tubes which could be retracted and the deposits contained therein examined and recorded. The tubes were inserted using a pneumatic hammer. Recording of the resulting vertical cores followed procedures laid down in the York Archaeological Trust Context Recording Manual (1996).
All finds and the site records are currently stored with York Archaeological Trust under the Yorkshire Museum accession code YORYM:1999.253.