York Historic Environment Record

Evaluation (3 trenches) and bore hole survey undertaken. Natural was encountered at 1.32m - 1.59m bgl. Between the 22nd and the 29th September 1998, York Archaeological Trust carried out a field evaluation at the former School Canteen, Fawcett Street, York on behalf of David Chapman Associates, Architects. The area evaluated lies just to the east of Fawcett Street, on land that was formerly a canteen for Fishergate County Primary School. The evaluation revealed evidence for the survival of deposits from the Roman to the modern periods, and of particular interest, the possible extension of late Anglo-Scandinavian settlement into the development area from its focus on the Redfearns glass factory site, Fishergate. Yorkshire Museum accession code: 1998.693. NMR Microfilm Index PRN: 7095. The excavations have revealed evidence for settlement within the area from the Roman period to the modern era. It has revealed significant detail for Roman land use, occupation during the Anglo-Scandinavian period, early medieval metal-working and the modern use of the site during the second world war. Archaeological deposits were revealed at depths of as shallow as 1.10m below the surface (or 12.20m AOD) close to the Fawcett Street frontage and included Anglo-Scandinavian occupation deposits and a Roman surface cut into natural sub-soil. The deposits appear to deepen towards the eastern end of the site however, natural sub-soil appearing at c.1.5m in Trench 3. Above the natural and the early archaeological deposits located on the Fawcett street frontage, agricultural soils dating from the medieval period through to the 20th century built up to a considerable depth, within which was some evidence for early medieval metal-working close to the 1.5m depth limit. This, and the agricultural soils, was sealed beneath modern dumps of industrial material and some areas of the site were also heavily truncated by modern civilian air-raid shelters, which appeared to have been excavated through all of the earlier deposits and into the natural sub-soil. The investigation has therefore shown that in the areas where the new houses are to be situated, archaeological deposits will be encountered from 1.10 m at the west end and below 1.5 m at the eastern end of the site, where modern air-raid shelters have not truncated the deposits. Below the 1.5m depth limit placed on the site further archaeological deposits and features may survive at the eastern edge of the site and groundworks below this depth in this area will require further archaeological investigation. SYO2589