York Historic Environment Record

The proposal to install new signage and information desks in College Street and at the west end of the minster required the excavation of several trenches to install the necessary foundations to support them. These excavations were carried out by the Stoneyard workforce in June 2015. Watching briefs were carried out in conjunction with this work. It was clear that this excavation had disturbed a cemetery in which burials lay just 20cms below the top of the modern paving. The soil indicated, from the inclusions of brick and tile that it was composed of mortary demolition material. Eighteenth century depictions of the west end of the minster show that there were then no steps up into the building. It therefore seems likely that demolition material was brought in to raise the height of the ground to the level of the doorways. The ground must then have been used as a cemetery for some considerable time. The truncation and overlapping of the skeletal remains suggest multiple reuse of the areas for burials.