York Historic Environment Record

An archaeological watching brief was undertaken by On-Site Archaeology Ltd at 6 & 7 Tower Street and 1 Peckitt Street, York in June 2021, during the construction of an extension, which formed part of a development predominantly comprising the conversion of former office buildings to residential use. The investigation comprised the archaeological monitoring of the excavation for a raft foundation for an extension to the rear of the existing buildings. In addition a programme of historic building recording was undertaken of the interiors of the three listed buildings that make up the development site. Only relatively recent deposits were identified during the course of the watching brief. These comprised modern make-up associated with a recent yard surface and services trench backfill, and a layer of garden soil that is likely to represent post-medieval to early modern gardens that occupied the site into the first half of the 19th century. A number of fragments of potentially medieval masonry were present within the garden soil. These may have been derived from the medieval Franciscan Friary that occupied this area of York between the 13th and 16th centuries. It is possible that these pieces of stonework were originally disturbed during the construction of the extant houses on the site, which include cellars, and were retained within the property as garden features. These are to be retained within the garden of the property. The building recording exercise identified a number of features relating to the original layout of the buildings that had been obscured by 20th century conversion to offices. These included several of the original fireplaces and evidence for blocking of former doorways.