York Archaeological Trust for Excavation and Research (2016)
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A Report On Various Excavations In York With Post-Medieval Artefacts Of Note An Insight Report By J.M. McComish ©York Archaeological Trust for Excavation and Research (2016) Contents 1. INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................................. 3 2. UNION TERRACE CAR PARK, CLARENCE STREET, YORK ................................................................ 3 3. PAWSON’S WAREHOUSE, SKELDERGATE, YORK ........................................................................... 6 4. 5 ROUGIER STREET, YORK .............................................................................................................. 9 5 GENERAL ACCIDENT, 24–30 TANNER ROW, YORK ...................................................................... 11 6. JUDGES LODGING, YORK ............................................................................................................. 14 7. SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY WINDOW MULLION BRICKS ................................................................ 15 8. REFERENCES ................................................................................................................................. 18 9. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................................ 19 Plates PLATE 1: THE UNION TERRACE EXCAVATIONS ................................................................................................ 3 PLATE 2: A CLASPING-BUTTRESS WITH A CHAMFERED PLINTH, SCALE UNIT 0.1M .................................................. 4 PLATE 3: THE STONE-LINED WELL OF MID-15TH- TO MID-16TH-CENTURY DATE ................................................... 6 PLATE 4: THE EXCAVATIONS AT PAWSON’S WAREHOUSE, SKELDERGATE, SCALE UNIT 0.5M .................................. 7 PLATE 5: BRICK VAULTING AND WALLING AT THE PAWSON’S WAREHOUSE SITE ................................................... 8 PLATE 6: A 4TH-CENTURY ROMAN SURFACE AT 5 ROUGIER STREET. SCALE UNIT 0.1M ......................................... 9 PLATE 7: ROMAN STONE PILES WITH A ROAD SURFACE BEYOND. ..................................................................... 10 PLATE 8: THE EXCAVATIONS AT 24–30 TANNER ROW ................................................................................... 12 PLATE 9: ROMAN TIMBER BUILDINGS AT 24–30 TANNER ROW ...................................................................... 13 PLATE 10: A 17TH-CENTURY MULLION BRICK ................................................................................................. 15 PLATE 11: THE DUTCH HOUSE, OGLEFORTH, YORK, CONSTRUCTED C.1650 ....................................................... 17 PLATE 12: DETAIL OF THE MULLION AND TRANSOM IN THE DUTCH HOUSE, OGLEFORTH, YORK .............................. 17 Figures FIGURE 1: LOCATION OF POST-MEDIEVAL SITES .............................................................................................. 20 FIGURE 2: UNION TERRACE TRENCH LOCATIONS ............................................................................................. 21 FIGURE 3: PAWSON’S WAREHOUSE TRENCH LOCATION ................................................................................... 22 FIGURE 4: ROUGIER STREET AND GENERAL ACCIDENT, TANNER ROW, TRENCH LOCATIONS ................................... 23 FIGURE 5: JUDGES LODGING TRENCH LOCATIONS ........................................................................................... 24 2 1. INTRODUCTION This report relates to five of York Archaeological Trust’s excavations within York, all of which have yielded post-medieval artefacts of particular note. The sites in question were Union Terrace (site code 1972.18), Pawson’s Warehouse on Skeldergate (site code 1972.19), 5 Rougier Street (site code 1981.12), General Accident site at 24–30 Tanner Row (site code 1983-4.28) and the Judges Lodging Hotel, Lendal (site code 1983.45). The location of these sites is given on Figure 1. In addition, a group of post-medieval window mullion bricks from sites across York are discussed. Research into the artefacts in question is currently being undertaken by N. Rogers as part of a Museum Resilience Fund project. This report aims to give a brief overview of each of the excavations in question in order to provide archaeological context for the various post-medieval artefacts. 2. UNION TERRACE CAR PARK, CLARENCE STREET, YORK The excavations at Union Terrace Car Park, Clarence Street, York (Figure 2; Plate 1), took place from June to October 1972 and were directed by M. Foster and C. Heighway. The excavations comprised four trenches to either side of Union Terrace and the results have been published in Richards et al. (1989). The text below represents a brief summary based on the published report. Plate 1: The Union Terrace excavations 3 The Roman levels were only seen in limited areas of the site. Some beam-slots and post- holes were also present, indicating structural activity of Roman date, but as these were seen in such restricted areas it was impossible to produce a ground plan for any buildings on the site. In Trench 2 there was a dark grey layer of clay which contained abundant residual Roman pottery and 3rd–4th-century coins. A single burial of Roman or later date was present, cut into the upper surface of the clay. The only identifiable material of Anglian date was a single sherd of pottery, and nothing of Anglo-Scandinavian date was found, suggesting that the area was little used in the early medieval period. It is known from historical documents that a Carmelite Friary was located in this area from c.1250–1295. A stone building of three rooms was present at the site, dating to the late 12th to the early 13th century, which almost certainly related to this friary. The easternmost room (Room H) was aligned east–west and was interpreted as a chapel. The walls were built from irregularly coursed limestone and sandstone blocks with a rubble core. There were clasping-style buttresses on the western corners of the building, possibly added at a later date. The room had a mortar floor, which was cut by various slots and post-holes interpreted as the bases for benches and the rood screen. A second east–west aligned room (Room J), located to the immediate west of Room H, was interpreted as a later addition to the chapel, designed to create a longer church with a nave and chancel. Room J had clasping buttresses with chamfered upper surfaces at the western corners (Plate 2). To the immediate north of Room H, the northernmost room (Room K) may have been added as a sacristy or side chapel either contemporary with or later than the addition of the chancel. After 1295 the Carmelite Friars are known to have moved to a new site in the area of the Stonebow. Plate 2: A clasping-buttress with a chamfered plinth, scale unit 0.1m 4 From the 14th–15th centuries the buildings at the site were altered. The dividing wall between Rooms H and J was demolished, and this portion of the building was then divided into four rooms (Rooms M, N, O and P). A floor of plain-glazed tiles laid diagonally to the walls was present in Room N, which also had a central tile hearth, implying that this was a single-storey building. The elaboration of Room N suggests that it was used as a hall. Room O was a cross-passage with doors at either end that were cut through the earlier walls of Room J. The smaller Rooms M and P were interpreted as small service rooms. Room K was replaced by a longer range (Room L) which had three integral small rooms (Rooms X, Y and Z) that were interpreted as a latrine block. An associated well was located to the south of the buildings. This phase of activity was interpreted as relating to St Mary’s Hospital which was known to have existed in the area in the 14th century. Early hospitals generally had a large infirmary hall with a chapel to the east and service rooms to the west, which would fit the pattern seen at Union Terrace. From the mid-15th to the mid-16th century there was widespread reorganisation of the site, including the demolition of some of the earlier buildings and the construction of new ranges, creating a more quadrangular plan. These remains were interpreted as representing the expansion of the hospital. The changes could be a move away from an earlier style of an infirmary hall towards a collegiate group of separate dwellings for alms people. A number of finds of an ecclesiastical nature were present including parchment prickers, painted window glass and lead window fittings (cames). These buildings underwent several phases of alteration. Various ancillary features were present including a stone-lined well (Plate 3), a brick-lined drain, and a cobbled surface. A number of burials were associated with this phase, many of which were of elderly males, which is consistent with a hospice for ageing clergy. One of the burials had a pewter chalice, indicating that the person concerned was a priest. Some of the burials were of women and juveniles, and these were interpreted as servants of the establishment. The hospital was taken over by St Peter’s School in 1557, and the final phase of buildings at the site relate to this period. It is known from documentary sources that the school was founded following a synod of 1556 which decreed that each cathedral church should maintain a number of boys aged eleven or over, with a view to training them for the priesthood. The boys were to be fed, clothed, housed and instructed in grammar and ecclesiastical discipline. Finds