York Historic Environment Record

During the period 24th July to 4th August 2014, York Archaeological Trust carried out archaeological investigations of groundworks in the cellar of The Mansion nightclub, 53-55 Micklegate, York. The house was a fine 18th century three-storey building with a brick vaulted cellar. The main reason for monitoring the groundworks was that it was likely that digging beneath the cellar floor was liable to encounter archaeological deposits, probably of Roman date. The various natural sand and gravelly sand deposits in Trenches 1 and 2 are thought to have been fluvio-glacial in origin. Only a limited amount of possible subsoil was noted, suggesting the original ground surface had been truncated. However, there is a suggestion of a slight fall in the pre-Roman ground level from south to north. The stone surfaces observed in Trenches 1 and 2 are probably external, although the presence of possible occupation deposits a little to the west in Trench 2 suggests that the surfaces could have been internal. There was a slight fall in the surface to the north, perhaps reflecting a slope in the original ground surface, although this trend could be the result of truncation by the cellar construction. These deposits comprised only surfaces or make-up layers, with no indications of occupation or other types of deposits, and they were observed over an area 7.3m long. It is therefore considered more likely that they represent a road or path, perhaps forming a side road perpendicular to the main road that ran through the Roman town to the legionary fortress. There was little correspondence in the sequence of road deposits in the two trenches, indicating that they represent repairs and limited rebuilds rather than major construction episodes. The construction of the 18th century building (with its cellar) removed all later deposits and probably truncated the Roman deposits. The brick and stone culvert was probably constructed as part of the original house building and cellar formation.