York Historic Environment Record

Seven trenches. The results showed that the western two-thirds of the site had been cut down to the natural sub soils by ground works undertaken in advance of the formation of the bowling green. The eastern third of the site was found to contain a well stratified sequence of 3rd – 4th century Roman deposits and features, including large pits and possible structural features such as beam slots and/ or drainage gullies. These are not fully understood and will remain so unless further work is undertaken. The environmental evidence showed that these features may have been excavated for the discard arising from metalworking and smithing and that such activity have been carried out close by. The pottery evidence recovered from the same features did, however, have ritual or sepulchral characteristics, suggesting that this may be an oversimplified interpretation for the site in general.