York Historic Environment Record

An archaeological investigation was carried out by On-Site Archaeology at the site of the former Newgate Market (now renamed ‘Shambles Market’) during refurbishment works from July 2014 to March 2015. Most of the refurbishment work had a limited impact on buried archaeology and was subject to an archaeological watching brief. A mid-project redesign of the new kiosks, located in the southwestern part of the site, involved greater below ground impact and was the subject of an open area excavation as recommended by John Oxley, City Archaeologist. A variety of features were revealed during the refurbishment works most of which dated to the early modern period or later as might have been expected. However a small number of structural features – usually stone-built – may be of earlier date. The low depth of excavation involved in most of the groundworks limited opportunities for investigation and absolute dates were hard to establish.