York Historic Environment Record

An archaeological evaluation was undertaken by On-Site Archaeology Ltd at The Evening Press, Walmgate, York, in June 2013 at the request of Harrison Developments / SC Walmgate Limited / Newsquest (Herts & Bucks) Limited. Redevelopment is proposed at the current premises of the Evening Press, Walmgate, York. The site is presently occupied by several buildings, which date to the later 19th century or the 1980s, loading bays, landscaping and car parks The evaluation consisted of a total of six trenches. Two of these were for archaeological purposes, in order to assess the potential and significance of the archaeology and the impact development would have upon it. The other four trenches were to enable examination of the depth and character of the foundations of one of the existing 19th century buildings, which is to be retained. Trench 1, excavated in the western part of the car park has confirmed that 19th century structural features suggested by the cartographic sources are well preserved, and survive at a depth of only 400mm below the modern car park surface. Within the Poads building all of the trenches suggest a similar level of archaeological survival. Medieval remains, including evidence for clay floors and occupation deposits, were found in all of the trenches at maximum heights of between 11.76m AOD and 11.84m AOD, 900mm to 1000mm below the existing timber floors. These remains were consistently sealed by a compacted layer of brick and concrete rubble, representing a construction layer associated with the late 19th century erection of the building. The results of the evaluation are such that archaeological mitigation is required. This will predominantly take the form of mitigation through design to enable the majority of the archaeological deposits to remain in-situ. Limited disturbance, requiring archaeological recording will be necessary along a proposed sewer diversion trench, located within the western part of the car park. The archaeological recording within this area will concentrate upon the potentially industrial remains that the evaluation has shown survive in this part of the site.