York Historic Environment Record

In April and May 1998 an archaeological evaluation trench was excavated by York Archaeological Trust immediately north of the Former Female Prison, Castle Yard, York with the object of establishing the location of the curtain wall of York Castle and assessing its state of survival. The earliest deposits examined were dated to the 9th-11th centuries although pottery of the Roman and Anglian periods was also recovered suggesting some earlier activity in the vicinity but of an uncertain nature. In the deposits of the Anglo-Scandinavian period were a number of human burials, some, if not most, of which had been disturbed by later activity. The burials may indicate the presence nearby of a previously unrecognised parish church. The burials and deposits were sealed by a thick deposit of clay that was associated with a north-south band of substantial postholes. These were dated by pottery to the 11th century and may represent part of the defences of the earliest Norman timber castle in this area. All features and deposits of the later medieval and early post-medieval periods had been truncated by activity broadly dated to the 18th century or later presumably in connection with the construction of the Female Prison. A number of burials, presumably of criminals hanged in the Prison were also excavated. The latest activity in the area consisted of dumps and levelling deposits laid down in the late 19th and 20th centuries