York Historic Environment Record

A Roman ditch aligned north-west to south-east which terminates within trench 4 was the earliest feature recovered and suggests that Roman occupation and land use continued to the west of the settlement at Rawcliffe Manor. It also revealed a short sequence of reuse as the ditch appears to have been re-cut on at least one occasion on a different alignment. The ditch is thought to represent a Roman field boundary rather than a defensive work. Other Roman material was not forthcoming in large quantities from the ploughsoil, or the plough disturbed upper 0.2m of the natural ground surface suggesting that the area was used for agricultural rather than settlement purposes during the Roman period. However, it has been suggested (Hunter-Mann, 1992) that on the Rawcliffe Manor site where features were partially preserved under ridge and furrow and within the areas of the medieval moated and platform house sites, that prehistoric features showed heavy truncation and the majority were less than 100 mm in depth. This brings the Manor Lane site into stark relief where there is no evidence remaining for ridge and furrow which may have preserved earlier features. It can be concluded therefore that post-medieval and modern ploughing have probably removed all traces of prehistoric occupation. Features that are interpreted as part of a field system and possible farmstead dating to the Iron Age and Romano-British periods have been found in other parts of the site.