York Historic Environment Record

Between 22 September and 24 October 2003 York Archaeological Trust (YAT) undertook an archaeological excavation, directed by the author, at the site of the former Starting Gate public house at 42–50, Tadcaster Road. The excavation was undertaken on behalf of Hearthstead Homes and consisted of two trenches as required by a specification prepared by the Principal Archaeologist for City of York Council. The site records are currently stored by YAT under the Yorkshire Museum accession code YORYM:2003.303. Most of the remains uncovered were of Roman date. These consisted of part of the Roman road running from York to Tadcaster, together with associated roadside ditches, a number of other ditch cuts, three burials, the foundations of a large Roman building, traces of smaller buildings and an extensive cobbled surface. There were a few post-Roman features including two ditches of medieval date and an early 20th-century paddling pool. The site was severely truncated during the 20th century during the construction of The Starting Gate public house. The excavations at The Starting Gate site are clearly of some importance in terms of what they can add to a growing body of evidence relating to the suburbs of major Roman settlements in Britain as a whole and more specifically to the history of York. The remains uncovered indicate limited activity in the area prior to AD 150 (Phase 3), then a period of highly intensive land-use from AD 150–200 (Phase 4), with declining activity from the early 3rd century onwards (Phase 5). There were no features on site that could be securely dated later than AD 225, though some settlement in the area is implied (Phase 6). The remains confirm the picture seen elsewhere in Dringhouses of a roadside settlement dating primarily from the late 1st century to the early 3rd century (Ottaway, in prep.). The history of Dringhouses in the late Roman period is little known from other sites in the immediate vicinity, and unfortunately the present excavations could not clarify the situation as the later Roman remains had been truncated during the 20th century