Field Archaeology Specialists
An archaeological evaluation was carried out at Palmer Lane, Hungate, York, in advance of a planning application for the re-development of the Hungate area. The evaluation was undertaken by Field Archaeology Specialists Ltd on behalf of Mike Griffiths and Associates, for Crosby Homes. One evaluation trench (Intervention 2) was excavated between the 30th of April and 7th May 2002.
The evaluation was designed to test the hypothesis that buildings identified on the 1852 Ordnance Survey map and demolished in the 1930s had retained elements of a medieval guildhall. Documentary and cartographic sources both suggested that a Cordwainer's Hall lay in the locality.
No structural activity earlier than the nineteenth century was contacted although the evaluation did reveal that there are substantial below-ground structures belonging to the nineteenth century gasworks on the site. Furthermore, beneath, and in between, these structures pre-gasworks archaeology survives.
Field Archaeology Specialists are grateful for the assistance and cooperation of Barnitts, York.