York Historic Environment Record

An archaeological watching brief was carried out between the 16th and 28th of November 2013 on behalf of Interserve during the excavation of a trench for the installation of an 11kv cable. The trench was monitored where it crossed the A1036, Tadcaster Road, from the Knavesmire to Little Hob Moor, a little to the south of the York Tyburn memorial. Burials associated with the Tyburn were encountered on both sides of the road. As a result two small archaeological excavation trenches were opened on the east and west sides of Tadcaster Road to facilitate excavation of the burials in an appropriate manner. On the east side, in Trench 1, a mass burial containing 11 individuals was found below that of a single inhumation. On the west side of the road, in Trench 2, two more graves were encountered with five skeletons in one and a further two in the other. A southwest branch to the main cable trench was also opened as part of the installation work. It was decided that this ancillary trench would be abandoned and re-routed on the discovery of further mass burials along its line. Accession no: YORYM:2014.5. Osteological analysis of human remains recovered from two multiple inhumation graves at the Tyburn, Tadcaster Road, York was undertaken in order to establish age, sex, pathology and any additional skeletal traits. A total of twelve articulated individuals were analysed. These were found to represent ten adults and two sub-adults. Of the adults, nine were identified as male and one was indeterminate. The majority of the individuals demonstrated a range of pathological conditions. Radiocarbon dating produced a date range of 1418-1495 calAD (92.3% probability) from one pit and 1407-1452 calAD from the other.