York Historic Environment Record

Watching brief: Beginning on 22nd January 1995, York Archaeological Trust carried out a watching brief during repairs to a 95 metre length of the City wall between Micklegate Bar and Victoria Bar at chainage 492-587 (National Grid Reference SE 5986 5140). The repairs involved the removal of the current ,wall walk surface followed by the excavation of trenches at intervals along the wall walk to allow the insertion of tie bars between the rampart and wall walk walls. The flagstones between unexcavated areas were also lifted and re-set. The results of the excavation of the backfill of Tower 10 seems to suggest that the present rampart wall is either a later rebuild on a slightly different line or at least a later remodelling and narrowing of the wall, perhaps utilising the outer face of the wall unchanged. The continuation of the internal fine stone facing of the rampart wall beneath the level of the wall walk in trenches 18, 28, 29 and 30 would seem to imply that originally this was not covered and hidden by a wall walk as found at present. Access along the wall may instead have been provided by a timber platform, possibly supported by struts from the wall with no connection to the ground.