York Historic Environment Record

During the war the cathedral constructed a large static water tank close to the Old Palace on the south side. The plans of this survive in the archive and one photograph in the Greene Collection shows it under construction. Unfortunately there was no archaeological monitoring of this large excavation and construction project. It was a cut and cover operation digging a large hole for the tank and then constructing it in brick and concrete. It evidently stood proud of the surrounding ground surface and was then covered with the spoil created by the excavation. It may therefore have not penetrated into the Roman levels but would have destroyed any Anglo-Saxon or later medieval and post reformation remains. Access to the tanks is by means of a hatch.