RECENT FIELDWORK

Quay Street, Scarborough - Autumn 2005

Over the turn of the year 2005 -2006 we carried out archaeological investigations at this important site in Quay Street. The excavation report will be available soon.

The site is at the corner of Parkins Lane and Quay St behind The Golden Ball pub. It is known to have been occupied until the 1920s by a 14th century timber framed house, which is illustrated in our publications A Guide to Historic Scarborough or, for more detail, The Archaeology of Medieval Scarborough. Latterly the site was occupied by a brick garage on a concrete base but this has now been removed.

   
23 Quay Street as photographed in the 19th century: the timber framing is clearly visible on the end elevation

The owner took off most of the concrete base under archaeological supervision and this showed the site was occupied by an infilled cellar which is consistent with what is at the Three Mariners along the street. Under archaeological supervision the owner cleared out the cellar of its fill and this showed that the wall alongside Parkins Lane was the stone base wall for the timber frame building which had existed above – this is an important survival. There was also a stone cross wall which seems to have been a partition wall within the building.

Following clearance of the cellar we were able to lift the floor a put down trenchers. One trench was at the back of the site against the brick cellar wall and the other flanked the stone cross wall. Both these showed that the cellar was built off sea sand which is what we also found at the Three Mariners. The sand contained medieval pottery of the 13th or 14th centuries which would be consistent with the date we think the timber frame was. Although the pottery was in the sea deposited sand, it was not water worn showing that it had been dumped not long before the building was put up – perhaps the sand was added to give a level base.

A large amount of iron was found and we think some industrial process such as nail making went on here.

Finally in the south west corner there was much later structure which we think was for boiling crabs.

Text and Images
Chris Hall

 

 

Falsgrave Park Lower Well House - Summer 2005

As part of the Falsgrave Project, investigations are being carried out, with help from the Friends of Falsgrave Park, into a structure in the north-east corner of Falsgrave Park.

 

The structure we have uncovered is built in brick with an arched roof, although the arch was partially demolished a few years ago (this has actually helped us get into the structure). It was rumoured that the structure was an ice house or an air raid shelter but we were sceptical of these.

The building contains two cisterns, divided by a low brick wall. There is an inlet conduit in the western wall which is of two phases and a lead pipe leads out at the east end. During recent heavy rain the conduit was flowing and the cisterns filled up.

The area now occupied by Falsgrave Park was important to the development of the town – it was where in the 14th century the Franciscan friars tapped the springs to provide a water supply.

There were two ‘Franciscan Springs’ or well heads. We think the small stone building at the top of the Park was on the site of the second of these, dating from 1339 and that the brick building we have uncovered is on the site of the first Franciscan Spring of 1319. The thin bricks seem to be of 17th century date and this would be consistent with documented improvements to the water supply made in the first half of the 17th century. The lead pipe would date from this period – but we think the stone floor is much earlier and is possibly a fragment of the original 1319 Spring Head.

   

Text and Images
Chris Hall

 

 

The Pentecostal Church - Easter 2005

Over the Easter weekend the Society carried out an excavation inside Scarborough's disused Pentecostal church which is awaiting redevelopment. Initial comments on the dig from Trevor Pearson:

 

Medieval features consisted of two interconnecting gullies at the south end of the site (the end furthest from the door). These were only around 0.1m deep and contained traces of small timber posts in the form of organic stains. There was also a larger posthole. Most likely these gullies mark the position of two interconnecting fence (or perhaps a small timber building) in the back yard of a medieval house fronting on to St Sepulchre street.

Why didn't we find more medieval remains? Well, it looks as though the site was leveled when the Pentecostal Church was built in the 19th century. This is probably when most of the medieval remains on the site were destroyed.

However...... if there had been any medieval pits on the site like those we excavated on the outside of the church in 2003 some traces would have survived, but we found nothing. This is significant and must mean that by crossing from the outside of the church into the interior we have moved into the back yard of a different medieval property. Evidently, none of the medieval owners of the property now occupied by the Pentecostal Church bothered to dig pits in their back yard!

The only other features we found are post-medieval and consist of a large oval shallow pit at the north end of the site (the end nearest to the door) which could have been a tree hole or the base of a garden feature when this part of the site was open ground, .....or it might have been to do with the building of the Pentecostal church or the previous chapel on the site. In other words, we don't really know what the pit was for!

We also found a large area had been dug away along the east side of the site and filled with loose soil. We suspect this is where burials have taken place in the 18th or 19th century associated with the church or the earlier chapel.

In summary then, though most of the medieval deposits appear to have been destroyed 150 years ago, comparison of the 2003 excavation and the present dig indicates that the east side of the Pentecostal church is on the line of a medieval property boundary. This is the first time we have been able to prove the continuity of a property boundary from medieval times to the present in Scarborough using excavation evidence.

It is disappointing that more did not turn up given all the hard work put in to digging out the trenches, but it has still provided useful evidence.

Text
Trevor Pearson

Images
Nick Kemp

 

FRIARGATE, SCARBOROUGH - 2005

The Society recently commenced a research excavation on a piece of open ground near to the playground of Friarage School, opposite the Public Market Hall. The site is of particular importance as it is close to, or on the line of, the old borough defences which consisted of a moat, with rampart and wall behind. The alignment of the town moat was located in 1989 at 1-3 Leading Post Street, which is on the opposite side of St Sepulchre Street to the present site. It is thought that there may have been a gate through the wall at this point.

Additionally, the site now occupied by Friarage School was once occupied by the Franciscan Friars. Very little evidence of their friary has been found.

 

It is hoped that the excavation will cast further light on the alignment of the town defences; or on the precinct of the Franciscan Friars; or on what type of settlement activity there was behind the town wall.

Text
Chris Hall

The Springfield Excavation - 2004

This is a site where the Society was very active in 1997-1998. We re-visited starting with a full week during February 2004 and then over several long weekends until July. Our work was in advance of the building of more houses. We excavated six trenches.

Some of the excavation team

Trenches 12, 13, 14, 16 and 17 were put down close to previous Trench 10 to further investigate the known archaeology in the lower area. We particularly wanted to investigate the size and width of a known north-south wall and the extent of survival of a paved area. In trenches 12 to 14 what we found, working from east to west, were a stone cobble surface; a wall; a stone slab surface the same as in former Trench 10 and another wall previously discovered in Trench 10 To the west of the wall a rubble cross wall and a loamy deposit containing entirely medieval pottery were revealed.

At work in Trenches 14 (back) and 16

In Trenches 16 and 17 we found a much more complex series of features comprising the same wall and slabs. Below the slabs were a further series of slabs, a wall drain and a spreader foundation to the wall which was of very substantial construction standing nearly 2 metres high. A ‘cistern’ was found to be inset into the floor. Trench 17 contained a further wall at right angles to the wall in Trench 10/16 and a substantial stone structure tentatively interpreted as a buttress. Clearly there has been a very substantial series of buildings on this site whose function we do not yet understand – they may be related to the nearby Franciscan Friary; to the milling which is thought to have taken place on the site or to an industrial or commercial use. We do not know which parts of the structure represent the inside of a building and which the outside.

Trench 15 was put down on the upper level of the site. Unfortunately the size and location of the trench was restricted due to use for off-street parking – ideally the trench should have been larger and a further trench put down.

We found two phases of stone wall, separated by a layer of clay. The upper phase was interpreted as being a wall associated with the almshouses, Taylor’s Free Dwellings, which existed on the site. The lower wall was found to be sitting on a mid brown loamy clay containing entirely medieval pottery and interpreted as a relict ground surface upon which the wall sat.

Palaeoecology Research Services have carried out environmental analysis of the organic material from Trench 16 thanks to funding from the Local Heritage Initiative.

We are currently carrying out analysis of the finds from the site (including 43kg of pottery) and hope to publish our report soon.

Text
Chris Hall- Director, Springfield Excavation

Images
Geoff Wood

 

Get involved - now!

If you are interested in getting involved in fieldwork, contact Chris Hall by e-mail scarborough.archaeology@btinternet.com or telephone 01723 354237

See the excavations database to find out about excavations carried out over the past 20 years.

Individual reports are published on many excavations. See the publications page for more information.

To find out about current fieldwork contact the Scarborough Archaeological and Historical Society's Projects Officer:
Chris Hall
Projects Officer SAHS
PO Box 378
Scarborough
YO12 4WS
telephone:01723354237
email: scarborough.archaeology@btinternet.com