York Historic Environment Record

Archaeological Evaluation & Assessment of results A series of twelve trenches were excavated on the land around St. Everilda’s, with a further four trenches dug within the gardens of the village to the west. These were excavated to evaluate the location, extent, character, date and significance of any underlying archaeology. A total of 32 test pits were hand dug by the community throughout the village for the recovery of pottery to create a distribution map of dateable finds. Any patterns in the distribution were then used to try and ascertain information about the development of the village. The archaeological evaluation was successful in achieving a number of the aims of the project, including establishing the presence of part of the vallum monasteria, the surrounding boundary ditch which encompassed monastic sites. This ditch contained sherds of pottery dated to c. AD 450-850 and is likely to date to the Early/Middle Anglo-Saxon period. The trenches around St. Everilda’s were also able to provide new information about the later development of the manorial complex which arose during the 12th century. The medieval moated manor house, within the Scheduled earthworks was probably superseded in the Tudor period by a new building to the south east, before moving once more, in the 18th century, to its present position. Analysis of the pottery recovered from the 1m by 1m test pits did show a distinct concentration of medieval pottery along Main Street within the village. However no distinct pattern of distribution could be determined. Many of the gardens could be seen to have undergone considerable levelling and recent landscaping with materials having been brought in from outside the village to act as levelling deposits. As the pottery from the test pits was recovered from the topsoil and subsoil there was no way to ascertain whether finds recovered originated from the village or had been brought in with the landscaping material. It is therefore difficult to use the pottery distribution in interpreting the development of the village. Analysis of the current layout of the village indicates that Nether Poppleton was probably a planned settlement, established along a single main street to the west of the church during the Norman period. Pottery recovered from the trenching within the village points to its medieval origins, but no significant structural or archaeological evidence was recovered to shed further light on the origins or development of the village layout. The oldest buildings lining the old main village street appear to date to the 17th and 18th centuries, and are likely to have been built on the sites of their medieval predecessors. Some are still aligned with their gables to the road, possibly fossilising earlier, medieval, building patterns. The best evidence for the medieval village layout lies in the survival of many of the early boundary plots along Main Street and Church Lane. NMR Information: Site code: NPO04. Evaluation comprising geophysical survey and trial trenching recorded a probable boundary ditch to the Saxon monastery as well as the foundations of a large Tudor mansion, the seat of the Huttons. Reused medieval stonework was incorporated in its fabric. NMR Microfilm Index; PRN: 10652. Geophysical Surveys of Bradford/Reports Gater J/2004/Geophysical survey at Nether Poppleton, North Yorkshire/Report No 04/49. Wessex Archaeology [assessment and evaluation reports] WA/2005/Nether Poppleton, City of York, Yorkshire. Archaeological Evaluation and Assessment of Results/Report ref. 55756.01.