York Historic Environment Record

Archaeological monitoring took place during the mitigation excavation of adjacent hydrocarbon contamination hotspots S6 and S7, at the east end of the former Wagon Works, between January and May 2023. S6 was an irregular ovoid c.28m by c.18m, with battered sides making the deepest excavated area c.4m less on each axis. This was excavated to a depth of c.3-3.5m deep (c.9m aOD). S7 was an irregular ovoid indented on the western edge c.35m by 26m, with battered sides making the deepest area excavated c.4m less on each axis. This was excavated to a depth of c.2.5-3m deep (c.10m aOD). An organic buried soil was identifed at c.3.5m BGL (9.8m aOD) in S6 and around 2.5m BGL (10.10m aOD) in S7, which appears to slope down towards the course of a former tributary stream for the Holgate Beck. This soil was overlain by various dumping deposits, which included larger areas of organic materials. Deeper investigation did not definitively locate the course of the former stream, and the ceramic building material and coal fragments observed within the soil suggested a later, fairly modern date for its formation than previously interpreted in earlier work.