York Historic Environment Record

Six trenches and eight boreholes. The site was located on what had been on a naturally occurring spur, bordered both to the west and north-west by the River Foss. Traces of Roman activity were seen in 4 trenches and consisted of a series of mixed dumps, possibly to raise the ground surface, structural features (two post-pads, three post-holes and a pebble surface), stakeholes and a possible pit. Anglo-Scandinavian material was also found in Trench 1, where 10th/11th century pottery was recovered from a series of ground raising clay dumps. A domestic rubbish pit of 10th/11th century date and a series of stake-holes which also cut into the clay dumps may also be of this period. No traces of St Stephen's graveyard were found. There was evidence for medieval activity on site in the form of domestic rubbish pits and dumps interspersed with occasional traces of structural activity in the form of shallow gullies and stake-holes. Many of the medieval levels had been removed by modern terracing/ levelling prior to the construction of the present (1992) buildings on the site. YORAT site code 1992.18.RCMHE microfilm PRN 3275.