York Historic Environment Record

In August 1998 York Archaeological Trust excavated two trenches and observed two boreholes during the archaeological evaluation of 39 Holgate Road, York. Trench 1 revealed a sequence of late medieval, post-medieval and modern deposits extending to a depth of in excess of 1.6m. Deposits excavated in this trench provided evidence of an early 19th century almshouse preceded by a probable garden/horticultural soil and dumping. Trench 2 demonstrated the presence of a series of significant Roman features, including two ditches, cutting into the natural drift. Deposits above this level included a garden/horticultural soil and later post-medieval brick culverts. The two boreholes, together with evidence from the excavated trenches, indicate that the profile of the natural drift slopes more sharply than that of the present ground profile at the site. These works thereby demonstrated that the build up of human derived deposits is greater at the property frontage (approximately 2.5m) than at the rear of the site (approximately 1m).