York Historic Environment Record

The assessment of Bootham Park included a 250m bugger zone. This demonstrated the site is surrounded by, and includes within the grounds, a number of listed buildings which form the distinctive character of this part of the city. In addition, 16 archaeological sites are recorded in and around Bootham Park. The most significant of these are two potential cemeteries, one Roman and one medieval. The Roman cemetery lies in the vicinity of St Mary’s/Bootham to the south. The medieval cemetery is in the area of Claremont Terrace. Of these sites the one which probably has the most potential to extend as far as Bootham Park is the inhumation cemetery at St Mary’s/Bootham. In addition, small-scale archaeological monitoring and trial works along the eastern side of the site have recorded archaeological features typically associated with small- scale activity on the edge of the city – for example, dumping and ground raising along with small-scale habitation. This appears to mainly date from the medieval period onwards, but with some evidence of Roman activity. The most significant post-medieval site is the hospital itself and the standing building aspect of it has been covered in other documentation. However, the formal landscaping noted on mid-19th century mapping around the main building may survive below the modern grass. In addition to the cartographic evidence a potential garden was also identified to the west of the chapel by the geophysical survey. If other remains of gardens do survive then this would represent a rare survival of formal grounds for an asylum and would potentially require further investigation.