York Historic Environment Record

The sewer upgrade consisted of the creation of a detention tank and a system of offline storage below the grounds of Bootham Park Hospital, which is connected to the sewer system within Portland Street and Bootham. The evaluation phase consisted of five trenches set across the proposed development area in the grounds of Bootham Park Hospital. During the construction phase, topsoil stripping was monitored across the scheme and detailed excavation was undertaken. Archaeological monitoring was also undertaken during sewer upgrade works below Portland Street, as well as the installation of a connecting pipeline from the detention tank to the sewer system below Bootham. The connecting pipeline to Portland Street from the detention tank was installed by directional drilling. Evidence was found for Roman extra-mural activity to the north-west of the Roman fortress. This mainly dated to between the late 1st and 2nd centuries, consisting of the division of the area by two boundary ditches, excavation of a number of pits and construction of a fence-line. Later activity was restricted to the laying of a stone surface, with one of the boundary ditches being repeatedly recut and finally silting up during the 3rd and 4th centuries. The area appears to have been little utilised, as it had been prone to flooding due to the underlying geology. Artefacts of Roman date consisted of pottery, including amphorae and samian ware, ceramic building materials, glass, metalwork, and two copper alloy coins. The area appears to have been under agricultural use during the medieval period and probably remained so in the early post-medieval period, until the construction of Bootham Park Hospital. An early post-medieval human burial, radiocarbon dated to cal AD1483–1648, was identified in the side of the pipe trench excavated towards Bootham but was retained largely in situ. There was no clear context for this burial, which lies away from known graveyards of the period. Equally, it is unknown whether the skeleton was an isolated burial or part of a larger group without further investigation in the area. Building foundations, rubble and a large iron chain may have related to a large pavilion constructed to house the York Fine Art and Industrial Exhibition in 1866.