York Historic Environment Record

This report relates to two of York Archaeological Trust’s excavations, the first at 12-18 Swinegate and the second at 14 Little Stonegate and 18 Back Swinegate. A total of fifteen trenches were excavated, and these revealed a complex sequence of deposits dating from Roman times to the present day. In addition, a number of exceptional artefacts were recovered including a collection of well-preserved wooden coffins of late 9th to early 11th century date, and a group of writing tablets of mid-14th century date. It is intended that the information in the present report can be used as an introductory text to accompany any documents or exhibitions relating to the conservation of, and research into, the 14th century writing tablets from the site. It aims to give a brief outline of the excavations and to provide the archaeological context for the writing tablets. The text is not intended as a full academic text, but rather something which can be easily read, and for that reason no academic references are given in the text.