York Historic Environment Record

Ring gullys and double gully enclosures noted on the site. Also three large pit like features interpreted as watering holes to collect water for any livestock. Discussions with the main contractor suggested an aquifer is present running roughly adjacent to the east of the A1237 road. This would
explain the localised water table and remarkably well-preserved organic deposits discovered
towards the base of these watering holes. Additionally, the grouping of these features
suggests that this spring-line has ancient origins.

SYO3020:
A range of striking similarities are apparent with how Late Iron Age/ Romano-British
agricultural activities at Heslington East and Wetherby Roundabout exploited the available
landscape resources during the Late Iron Age/ Romano-British transitional period. A mixed
farming economy is evident, with a significant weighting towards pastoral activity focussed on
watering and control of livestock hinging on the presence of reliable spring water. Stabilising
the sides of watering holes with wattle linings, which was at times augmented with cobbled
hard standing, implemented long term access for livestock. When maintenance became a
necessity, re-cutting was undertaken or a new watering hole was opened in the vicinity. An
element of seasonality to the availability of water is suggested by the pattern of silting and
the plant fossil remains present in some of the Wetherby Roundabout watering holes. The
positioning of boundaries in relation to wells/ watering holes would have enabled control of
livestock movement to and from those features.

Dating evidence demonstrates a continuity of pastoral activity from the Late Iron Age into the
2nd century at both sites, little influenced by the establishment of the Fortress and settlement
at York. Agricultural practice and how the landscape was managed did not, however, remain
static throughout the Roman period. At Heslington East the laying out of a new road along the
spring line appears to have been the catalyst for a substantial shift in the organisation of
landholding into the later Roman period. The 2nd century was also when the last watering hole
at Wetherby Roundabout finally silted-up, inferring that the water source there had lost its
importance by then. Given the small area of this site abandonment of the spring cannot be
seen as conclusive evidence of a comparable transition in landscape exploitation, particularly
as the area investigated at Heslington East was substantially larger, but it does at least offer
an intriguing parallel hinting at a local re-organisation of agricultural practices in York’s
hinterland.

YAT, 2020, Wetherby Road Roundabout WB and EXC Assessment (Unpublished document). SYO2226.

York Archaeology, 2023, Wetherby Road Roundabout WB and EXC Analysis (Unpublished document). SYO3020.