York Historic Environment Record

Monitoring during the installation of a new low voltage mains for improved service provision to the Dean Court Hotel. The stratigraphic profile of this excavation was consistently one of tarmac overlying modern bedding deposits and/or foundational layers of varying compositions, followed by deeper deposits of post-medieval made ground and service backfills. Occasionally, dense layers of concrete were also present below the tarmac, with one particular concentration (0.60m in depth) below the footprint of Bootham bar extending to the base of the excavation. The high volume of modern services across High Petergate, St Leonard’s Place and Duncombe Place has greatly disturbed any potential for higher-level in-situ archaeological deposits or remains; previous archaeological works at these locations over the past twenty years have also reached the same conclusion. Given this record, and the fact this excavation was limited to a comparatively shallow depth of 750mm, it is not surprising that the archaeological potential of this site was incredibly diminished at this level. Finally, the presence of the two similar sandstone block deposits at Duncombe Place and St Leonard’s place respectively, does lend credibility to the continued archaeological monitoring of this area at such shallow depths – the potential for archaeological structural remains, even truncated ones, remains significant.