York Historic Environment Record

This Desktop Assessment has been prepared at the request of O'Neill Associates to provide information regarding the archaeological potential of the site of a proposed new teaching building, at St. Peter's School, York. The site lies in an area with a potential to contain archaeological deposits, within the limits of the City Centre Area of Archaeological Importance. The surrounding area has been shown to contain Roman burials, many of which were discovered during the late 19th century. The site lies close to the line of one of the two Roman roads approaching the fortress from the northwest. During the medieval period the site was undeveloped and a number of archaeological investigations in the area have encountered substantial thicknesses of garden soils. From the 19th century the site the adjacent land was occupied by the school, although the buildings occupying the site itself were not constructed until the mid 20th century. The new teaching building is to be predominantly constructed over the footprints of two existing, 20th century blocks, which will have caused a degree of damage to any archaeology. Although there will be some limited extension to the overall building footprint these areas are unlikely to contain archaeological remains of such significance to prevent the proposed development from being granted planning permission. However, given the archaeological potential of the site, the planning permission is likely to include a condition for a programme of archaeological work. The requirement for, and scale of, any archaeological fieldwork associated with this development will need to be agreed with City of York Council Archaeologist. Several Listed Buildings lie within the vicinity of the site, several of which lie within the school itself.