York Historic Environment Record

A watching brief was undertaken by York Archaeology (YA) on behalf of Yorkshire Water between 24th February and 11th March 2022 on sewer repair works at 2 and 8 Buckingham Street, York. Two rectangular trenches were excavated outside 2 and 8 Buckingham St. The first trench (no 2) was opened prior to York Archaeology attending the site. No deposits were recorded and no finds were recovered. However, it is likely that excavated material mainly consisted of backfill within the sewer, and as such, there would have been minimal impact to any in situ archaeological deposits present at this location. In the second trench, a south-east and a south-west facing section were observed and recorded. No pre-modern features were identified during the archaeological watching brief, although the deposits that were revealed stratigraphically beneath the modern sewer and water pipes may pre-date the modern period. Evidence of disturbance through these earlier layers is present in the form of lead water pipes and a previous cut made for the sewers that revealed cobblestones. It is likely that this is evidence for a cobbled road surface disturbed when the cut for the original sewer was excavated and later backfilled. The dating evidence described above, particularly the pottery, indicates there was activity in this area from at least the medieval period until the 18th century, which is unsurprising given the site’s location within the historical area of the city. However, even though the general sherd size suggests a minimal degree of residuality, the stratigraphic sequence suggests that most sherds are likely to have been redeposited during post-medieval or modern ground disturbance. One possible exception to this is the sherd of 11th century pottery at a depth of 850mm, suggesting that in less disturbed ground, that this could be an guide depth for the start of medieval archaeology in the immediate vicinity. Otherwise no significant archaeological activity was present.