By the 1840s, however, Hungate had become an area of poor working class housing. The Union Gasworks was established in 1837; it closed in 1850 and was sold to Leetham's Mills. The importance of these mills led in 1888 to a revival of the Foss navigation work, the original works having failed by 1845.

Between 1801-1901 the population of York had trebled. York did not become an industrial city comparable to Leeds and others in the West Riding, however, but relied on small-scale manufacturing and marketing. The arrival of the railways and the confectionery industry were the exceptions, and these drew new immigrants into the city.

Some settled in the poor (but cheap) housing in Hungate where living conditions became

deplorable. In the tightly packed streets, the death rate from water-borne diseases was high. In 1901, part of the Hungate area was referred to by Seebohm Rowntree as one of the main slum districts of York. Other parts were not quite so deprived, with 'a few houses where servants were kept'.

Saw mills and a flour mill were established in the area, but in the 1930s the area was cleared of slums and then redeveloped for light industry and warehousing. Further post-war developments took place after The Stonebow was laid out, but much of this has now been demolished and Hungate is poised for the next phase of its history.

During our investigations of these most recent deposits we will be able to examine important questions such as the effects of industrialisation, urbanisation, class structure, migration and culture contact. We will compare what we find with the evidence from documents from a period when not all the population would have been able to read and write. Many aspects of people's lives were not recorded and records may not be entirely accurate; archaeology can provide a valuable check on the written evidence.