York Archaeological Trust
Before drawing any conclusions it should be noted that all recorded depths are only approximate. Exact depths can only be provided by controlled archaeological excavation. Where modern disturbance, dumps and levelling deposits have been recorded it should be noted that the bore-hole may have been positioned within a localised area of modern disturbance. Examples of these on this site are drainage or foundation trenches (as in ws16, ws18, ws19, ws20 and ws21), backfilled cellars (as in PH5, TP3, TP4, and TP5), pits, localised clearance or terracing cuts (as in ws8, ws9, and ws11). Thus the whole area around the probe may not have been disturbed to the same depth. Only controlled archaeological excavation can provide detailed information on the level of modern disturbance and its location as well as the location, extent, date, character, condition, significance and quality of any surviving archaeology.
However, this extensive survey of the depth and character of deposits within the Hungate development area has added significantly to an understanding of the degree of archaeological preservation within the area and the depths of archaeological deposits. Out of twenty-three probe-holes and three bore-holes ws9 and ws15 were the only two that did not reach natural glacial deposits within their specified depth limit (although ws5, ws10, and ws10A were blocked by obstructions). In ws9 and ws15 this suggests that the top of natural is below c.3.75m AOD and 4.02m AOD respectively. In all of the other probe-holes and bore-holes natural geology was reached. The interventions can be grouped into three categories on the basis of the depth at which the natural deposits were reached - (i) between 3.0m AOD and 5.0m AOD, (ii) between 5.0m AOD and 7.0m AOD and (iii) above 7.0m AOD.
(i) This includes the majority of the probes (17 of them) and bore-holes (2 of them):- ws1 - 4.60m AOD, ws2 - 4.94m AOD, ws8 - 4.64m AOD, (probably ws9, ws10 and ws10A) ws11 - 4.41m AOD, ws12 - 4.36m AOD, ws13 - 4.89m AOD, ws14 - 4.45m AOD, (probably ws15) ws16 - 3.86m AOD, ws17 - 4.64m AOD, ws18 - 4.20m AOD, ws19 - 4.75m AOD, ws20 - 4.90m AOD, ws21 - 4.20m AOD, bh1 - 4.52m AOD, and bh2 - 4.63m AOD. Phase 1 - Site investigation:- PH2 - 4.14m AOD, and PH3 - 4.46m AOD.
(ii) Only ws22 - 6.37m AOD was included in this category. Phase 1 - Site investigation:- PH1 - 6.1m AOD, PH9 - 6.02m AOD, and PH4(originally PH10) - 6.52m AOD.
(iii) These included:- ws3 - 8.48m AOD, ws4 - 9.83m AOD, ws5 - 8.13m AOD, ws6 - 7.58m AOD, ws7 - 8.59m AOD, ws23 - 7.65m AOD and bh3 - 8.06m AOD. Phase 1 - Site investigation:- PH5 - 7.66m AOD, PH8 -8.43m AOD, PH11 - 8.32m AOD, and PH12 - 8.81m to 9.01m AOD.
These results amplify the suggestion of the first phase of site investigation that there was a general trend from fairly shallow archaeological deposits on Dundas Street towards deeper, more clearly stratified archaeological deposits to the south-west and south-east, including the area around the former petrol station on The Stonebow. The depth of deposits in the petrol station area also suggests that there was a natural valley or gully which descended from a natural ridge along St. Saviourgate on a north-west to south-east alignment. The street of Hungate may have been laid out on the eastern side of this valley. In the north-eastern corner of this area (investigated in ws2, PH2 and PH3) the deposits suggest that a second natural valley sloped down from north to south. Alternatively, clay extraction or terracing activity may have been carried out during the Roman period and either back-filled or levelled by the late Roman period. The Dundas Street area appears to have formed a natural bank of higher ground that extended south-east onto the flood plain from the glacial ridge. This appeared to step down towards Hungate prior to subsequently stepping down again to the south-west to the floodplain proper.
Roman and Anglo-Scandinavian occupation and dump deposits were suggested at the following depths in probe-holes:- ws1 - 7.08m AOD, ws2 - 8.74m AOD, ws3 - 9.23m AOD, ws4 - 9.93m AOD, ws7 - 8.91m AOD, and bh3 - 9.26m AOD. Possible Roman or Anglo-Scandinavian occupation or dump material may have been located in ws14 - 5.85m AOD, ws15 - 6.41m AOD, and ws22 - 7.92m AOD. Within the following interventions archaeology was located below medieval river silts within the King’s Fishpool: ws18 - 4.75m AOD, ws19 - 4.85m AOD, ws21 - 4.60m AOD and bh1 - 4.92m AOD. Phase 1 of the site investigation predicted possible Roman occupation and dump deposits at the following depths - PH1 - 8.8m AOD, PH2 - 5.19m AOD, PH3 - 5.61m AOD, PH4 (formerly PH10) - 7.34m AOD and Anglo-Scandinavian occupation and dump deposits from:- PH1- 9.5m AOD, PH2 - 8.29m AOD, PH3 - 8.47m AOD, PH9 - 7.85m AOD and PH4 (formerly PH10) - 7.79m AOD.
The majority of the interventions produced evidence for river silts that relate either to the pre-Norman Conquest River Foss or to the post-Norman Conquest King’s Fishpool. The levels at which alluvial deposits were encountered varied widely across the site:- ws1 - 8.35m AOD, ws6 - 7.68m AOD, ws8 - 7.24m AOD, ws9 - 3.90m AOD, ws11 - 5.84m AOD, ws12 - 6.74m AOD, ws13 - 5.66m AOD, ws16 - 5.16m AOD, ws17 - 5.26m AOD, ws18 - 5.95m AOD, ws19 - 7.85m AOD, ws20 - 7.00m AOD, ws21 - 5.40m AOD, bh1 - 5.92m AOD, and bh2 - 5.63m AOD. The distribution of these observations suggests that alluvium at above 7.00m AOD appears to flank the south-west side of Hungate right to its end (ws19). The stream within the suggested river valley or gully that sloped down from the natural ridge may have continued in use into the medieval period as a King’s Drain or as a boundary ditch for the Carmelite Friary. The only other locations of alluvium at this height were at ws6, where the thin silt deposit may represent colluvium (or hillwash) and at ws8 where it may result from serious flooding after substantial reclamation had taken place. Medieval and early post-medieval reclamation activity in and surrounding the King’s Fishpool was recognised in virtually all of the interventions including ws8, ws9, ws10A (with its possible wharf), ws11, ws12, ws13, ws14, ws15, ws16, ws17, ws18, ws19, ws20, ws21, bh1, bh2, TP3, TP4, and TP5.
Occupation deposits of especial significance were located in probe-hole 4 (originally PH10) where 1.7m of medieval stratified occupation deposits was recorded close to the Hungate street frontage. Occupation type deposits of medieval or early post-medieval date were also located in PH1, PH2, PH3, PH9, PH11 in phase 1 of the site investigations and ws2, ws3, ws10A, ws11, ws13, ws14, ws15, ws17, ws18, ws20, ws21, ws22, ws23, bh2and bh3 of phase 2. Probe-holes ws4, ws5A, ws6, and ws7 produced deposits that may relate to the medieval church of St. John the Baptist and its demolition in the early post-medieval period. Possible post-medieval occupation deposits were located in ws3, ws5, ws5A, ws6, ws13, ws15, ws18, ws19 and bh1.
The top of significant archaeological deposits was located at 9.66m AOD in ws1; 10.16m in ws2, 10.86m AOD in ws3; 10.90m AOD in ws4; 9.73m AOD in ws5; 9.68m AOD in ws5A; 8.91m AOD in ws6; 9.29m AOD in ws7; 7.54m AOD in ws8 (compare with BH1); 6.65m AOD in ws9 (compare with BH1); 7.75m AOD in ws10; 7.70m AOD in ws10A; 6.91m AOD in ws11 (see note above); 9.06m AOD in ws12; 8.64m AOD in ws13; 8.83m AOD in ws14; 9.54m AOD in ws15; 6.79m AOD in ws16 (see note above - Carmelite Street evaluations TR2 - 7.00m AOD, TR3 - 7.30m AOD and may even be as high as 7.90m AOD in Carmelite Street bore-hole survey (BH3)); 8.64m AOD in ws17; 8.25m AOD in ws18 (see note above); 8.65m AOD in ws19 (see note above); 7.60m AOD in ws20 (see note above); 7.15m AOD in ws21(see note above); 9.49m AOD in ws22; 9.60m AOD in ws23; 8.79m AOD in bh1; 9.18m AOD in bh2; 9.61m AOD in bh3; below 7.75m AOD in TP1; below 8.20m AOD in TP2; 9.81m AOD in TP3; 9.36m AOD in TP4; 8.76m AOD in TP5; and finally below 8.53m AOD in TT1. This adds to the information from phase 1 of the site investigations where the following levels were recorded for the top of significant archaeological deposits:- 10.0m AOD in PH1; 9.44m AOD in PH2; 9.81m AOD in PH3; 10.78m AOD in PH5 (or 9.23m AOD if the area was cellared); 9.40m AOD in PH8; 9.69m AOD in PH9; 9.49m AOD in PH4 (formerly PH10); 9.68m in PH11 and 9.72m AOD in PH12.
The investigations have shown that deep well stratified and waterlogged archaeological deposits survive beneath more modern layers over most of the area surveyed. It appears that Dundas Street was located on a north-west to south-east aligned natural ridge or spur of higher ground of glacial origin and that here the archaeological deposits are shallow. Very well stratified occupation deposits of medieval date also survive on the Hungate street frontage to a considerable depth. Modern terracing may have truncated the medieval and post-medieval occupation deposits in the area of the former petrol station and towards the Dundas Street end of the Territorial Army depot car park. Over the majority of the site archaeological deposits will survive from between 0.16m to 1.0m below the surface. Localised modern disturbance may have removed archaeological deposits in some of the areas investigated (see above). A natural valley or stream course, which may have continued in use as a King’s Drain or as a perimeter ditch for the Carmelite Friary into the medieval period, flanked the south-west side of Hungate. The results from PH1, PH2, PH3, ws2, ws14, and ws15 suggest that the ground level in the areas of these investigations had been built up to a considerable height or was protected by a river defence prior to the creation of the King’s Fishpool in the 11th century. Some probes also showed signs of the land having been occupied prior to being flooded by this prominent medieval feature of the city.