York Historic Environment Record

Roman material, in the form of pottery, building fabric and glass was recovered from a number of interventions across the site (Interventions 1, 10, 11, 12, 13). The majority of this was secondary in nature, having been redeposited in later features and layers by subsequent reworking of the site. This is particularly the case in Intervention 1 where two later pits (F4 and F13) contain 60%of the Roman brick and 40% of the Roman pottery recovered from the site. The thickness and fabric of the Roman brick suggests that it originates from hypocausts, floors or from wall courses and is found to the exclusion of roof tile. The general assemblage of pottery is described as spanning the later 2nd to the 4th century and post-dates the foundation of the colonia. The types of vessels included in the assemblage suggest that the occupation was of a fully Romanised nature and contemporary with civilian settlement of Eboracum. Intervention 12 identified a possible in situ deposit of Roman-British date. The assemblage from this context was dated to the late 2nd or early 3rd century and comprised four sherds, two of which were abraded. A third consisted a large piece of mortaria, the size and condition of which seems to indicate 2nd century activity nearby rather than manuring or rubbish disposal from the fortress/colonia. Similarly Intervention may also have recorded a Roman layer consisting of a deposit that sealed a rough cobble surface within the base of the trench which if the dating is correct may indicate the presence of structural remains of this period. Intervention 1 contained the only evidence for Anglian occupation on the site during this phase of evaluation. A pit contained an assemblage of Anglian pottery dating between the 8th and mid-9th century. This included Northern Maxey, Ipswich and Sandstone-tempered wares. The presence of this pottery potentially dates the early life of the pit to the beginning of the 9th century, associated with the disposal of primary waste from either cooking or an industrial process. the latest use of the pit may be that of a construction cut and/or slo from which, along with Anglian pottery, a single sherd of Torksey ware was recovered. This piece of pottery would appear to be part of an assemblage which includes other sherds which had slumped into the backfill of another pit. This material would, therefore date a possible structural phase of pit to the mid-to late 9th century or later, a period for which previous archaeological excavation/investigation has suggested a hiatus in occupation in this area. It should not be discounted either that the five sherds of York ware recovered from feature pit F4 were originally deposited within the constructuon cut/slot. If this is the case then it would indicate structural activity was occurring on the site well into the Anglo-Scandinavian period of York. The activity associated with one of the pits produced an rich assemblage of well dated and stratified animal bone, slag and pottery. Archaeological deposits and material dating from between the 11th and 15th centuries were recorded in Interventions 1, 2, 5, 11, and 13. Much of this material was recovered from pit F4 (Intervention1). The only other archaeological features which can be placed in this period are the east-west aligned ditch (F14) excavated in Intervention 2 and the shallow pit or scoop (F41) in Intervention 13. The remaining medieval pottery was recovered during the excavation of the sequence of brown soils which appear to characterise much of the site in this period. Activity relating to the post medieval and post-Dissolution history of the site was represented in pottery recovered from Interventions 2 and 13. The north-eastern half of the site was characterised by a sequence of grey brown silt soils exposed and recorded in Interventions 2, 10, 11, 12 and13. The sequence of grey brown clay and silt may be a long lived deposit which started sometime in the 13th century and continued through to the 18th century.These were sealed by a thin layer of black silt which appears to represent the remains of an old turf horizon. Pottery recovered during this evaluation appears to date the black turf horizon to the late 18th or early 19th century. A brick lined cellar was recorded in Intervention 5 and intrusive features were recorded in Interventions 1, 2, 3, 11, 12, 13 and 14. These appear to indicate that the southeastern area of the Blue Bridge Lane site had undergone a considerable degree of modern truncation. Interventions 6, 7, 8 and 9 in the car park to the rear of the Mecca Bingo Hall were characterised by modern levelling deposits. These comprised a mixture of concrete and brick rubble separated with layers of slag, sand and clay. Much of this material appears to originate from the destruction and waste from at least one part of the Redferns Glassworks.