York Historic Environment Record

On the 19th of April 2017 York Archaeological Trust excavated, monitored and recorded two trial trenches in advance of a proposed scheme of development on land adjacent to English Martyrs Church, Dalton Terrace. An earlier evaluation on the plot, in October 2014, had found evidence for a medieval ditch, a cobble structure and medieval horticultural soils. These trial trenches were excavated to provide better archaeological coverage of the overall development area, particularly with regard to the suspected possibility of surviving Roman burials being present. This would in turn better inform the development strategy. As no human remains (disarticulated or otherwise) were encountered in either of these trial trenches or the evaluation trench excavated in October 2014 the potential for burials now appears to be low. This report is an interim report on these two trial trenches and will be incorporated in to a final watching brief report once the service trenches have been monitored. No significant archaeology was identified in either of the trial trenches. The horticultural soil identified in both appears to be the same as the horticultural soil identified in the evaluation. It appears that this land was been used throughout the medieval period for agricultural purposes.