York Historic Environment Record

Archaeological monitoring at Minster Yard, York, to the south of the entrance to the Minster Deanery. The work by Northern Powergrid involved the excavation of a trench outside the Deanery entrance in order to install electrical cables to link a service conduit at the Deanery entrance with existing electrical services below Minster Yard at the south-eastern end of the trench. This work forms part of the infrastructure requirements for the re-development of the Deanery garages into the Heritage Quad. The recording and removal of any archaeological deposits was undertaken by York Archaeology on behalf of Northern Powergrid in response to an Operations Notice submitted to City of York Council. The formation depth of the trench did not extend into geological deposits and the trench had no evidence of in situ structural archaeology of Roman or early medieval date. However, the trench did reveal a sequence of archaeological deposits that appeared to range from the post-medieval period through to the modern day. An earlier post-medieval cobbled surface, residual medieval magnesian limestone architectural fragments, a precinct boundary wall and a possible walled and brick-surfaced walkway were recorded.