October 2006 - Jan 2007: Sewer shaft diversion trenches
The area excavated had once been part of the medieval King's Pool. Work in this area allowed the archaeologists to better understand the landscape from the Roman to the 21st century.
November 2006 - April 2007: Watching brief, lift shaft excavations and pre-piling probes on Blocks A, B, and C.
Watching briefs, lift shaft excavations and pre-piling probes are part of the construction process, so do not create large, open excavations. This offered the archaeologists glimpses of the archaeological landscape in the areas where full excavation isn' going to occur. The investigation that took place on the site revealed archaeological deposits of garden soils from formal gardens and orchards that were present in the area since the 17th century.
January 2007 - March 2007: Block E
This area was the 19th century back gardens for the houses on Palmer Lane and Lower Dundas Street. The one building encountered was a well-preserved block of five
toilets, flushed by an unusual Duckett tipper flush system. This evidence points to increasing occupation levels in the vicinity in the late 19th/early 20th century. The area was cleared in the 1940s and turned over to industrial use.
January 2007 - August 2007: Block D
There was considerable evidence for the Anglo-Scandinavian period and seems to use of this area thought to lie on the edge of the Viking-Age town of Jorvik.
The 19th century archaeology was very well persevered. These were most likely the outbuildings and orchard walls for the houses in the area. During the first half of the 20th century, major clearances removed much of the 19th century housing.
August 2007 - October 2007: Block D4
Around the second quarter of the 19th century, brick houses with cess pits to their rear were built on the south-west edge of the trench, alongside the newly-established Dundas Street. These dwellings were closely followed by a row of brick houses with cess pits in backyards along the north-west side of the trench, the south-east side of Dundas Place. Later 19th century brick structures in the eastern part of the trench appear to have been sheds, stables and a probable 'two up, two down' dwelling in Waudby's Yard. Towards the end of the 19th century, the cess pits in Dundas Street and Dundas Place were replaced with toilets, probably of the tipper flush style. The site was cleared in the 1930s and 1940s, and become the Northern Electric Distribution Ltd depot.
October 2007 - December 2007: Focal Building
The earliest structures on the site are the York Union Gas Light Company (YUGLC) gasworks, open from 1837 to 1850. The York Union Gasworks were de-commissioned and the site sold by auction in 1850 following the 1844 amalgamation of YUGLC with its commercial rival, the York Gas Light Company, to form the new York United Gas Light Company. The site was bought by a William Bellarby and converted to a sawmill. Elements of the sawmill main building, its yards, a cobbled road and several outbuildings were identified, along with evidence for re-use of the original gas pipe network to supply gas to the sawmill following a possible upgrade after the 1880s.
The sawmill was eventually demolished during the clearance of the 1930s and 1940s, and the plot became the location of the Derwent Coachworks.
February 2009: Block F
This site gave archaeologists a further opportunity to explore the industrial history of Hungate. Two manufacturing firms had replaced the gasworks after it closed in the mid-19th century: Bellerby's Sawmill and Leetham's Flour Mill.
2007- present: Block H
January 2007 - December 2008: H1
The main aim for the excavations in H1 was to find the extent of the medieval graveyard from the lost church of St. John's in the Marsh. This was easily detected, since later property boundaries are located along the edge of the burial ground. The burials were recorded but left in situ, since they will not be disturbed by the development. The activity on this part of the site is primarily from the 13th century onwards. Most of this activity is in the form of ovens, clay quarry pits, the footings for timber buildings. Part of this site includes the corner of the Cordwainers' (shoemakers) Guild Hall, which was built during the mid to late 16th century.
January 2009 - present: H2
During the first part of 2009, the archaeologists excavated down from the 20th century to the 16th century. The centre of H2 is dominated by lots of pits and ovens, similar to those seen in H1. Part of the H2 excavations involved sinking a deep trench, which has revealed several Viking-Age sunken-floored buildings. The area suggests backyard activity, buildings, pits and dumping.
