York Historic Environment Record

Watching brief on ground works for a sewer repair by Avove on behalf of Yorkshire Water. The area is within the Area of Archaeological Importance, and within the Minster Precinct which in turn is also a Scheduled Monument. This meant the works required constant monitoring throughout the entire excavation, from the removal of the flagstones to the final reinstating. The works were observed in three phases, each mostly encountering made ground and levelling deposits, with much disturbance coming from modern services. The works comprised of the removal of paving slabs, and vacuum excavating to a depth of 3.5m below ground level (BGL). A condition was imposed by Keith Emerick, Inspector of Ancient Monuments for Historic England, that stated ‘all works will be monitored by an experienced archaeologist from York Archaeology’. No finds were encountered, however in Trench 3 a possible archaeological feature was found. This feature {3010} was at the base of the trench, approximately 2.2m down, below the made ground, backfill from previous excavations or sewage from the modern drainage pipes. The feature was a possible wall, 0.40m in height visible from the base, made of compacted cobbled stones and possible mortar. It has been interpreted as being used as concrete cap for the modern drain pipe (3004) situated close to it. The date of the feature is unknown and due to poor visibility and contamination from the modern services could not be further examined. The structure has remained in situ.