89 The Mount, York (in preparation)
Introduction
The site is centred at SE 5953 5118 and is bounded to the south-west by Scarcroft Road, to the north-west by The Mount, and to the north-east and south-east by other 19th and 20th century developments, both commercial and domestic. It lies to the south of the Roman colonia and the medieval walled city alongside one of the main historic routes to and from York. It has been the subject of a number of archaeological evaluations within the last ten years.
The earliest maps of the area suggest that the site was in an area of fields just outside the suburbs. By 1853 when the first OS map was published the site had been developed and was occupied by the current building and its landscaped gardens.
The form of the current building layout and observations made during archaeological evaluation suggest that though the site has been subsequently altered the changes have been limited in extent and impact.
Archaeology of the Immediate Vicinity
The site lies to the south south east of the line of a principal Roman road leading from Roman York (Eboracum) towards Roman Tadcaster (Calcaria). This road is lined with Roman burials, including some of the most prestigious and exotic in York. The richer burials appear to be concentrated on the Mount. Behind these more monumental burial places there are further extensive and intensively used burial plots. The finds from along Blossom Street up to the Mount show that the cemetery extended back from the road at least 150 metres.
Previous Archaeological Work on the Site
The site has been the subject of four separate phases of archaeological work. This comprised three phases of evaluation (undertaken in 1991, 1998, and 2002) followed by a programme of excavation and monitoring (undertaken in 2005). The results of the evaluations have been reported upon in three separate reports, copies of which have previously been supplied to City of York Council. The 2005 excavation report is awaiting completion.
The earliest use of the site dates to the Roman period and takes the form of a series of cut features including ditches, pits and post holes and burials. The material culture indicates that the site was being used from the 1st to the 3rd centuries AD. Despite the site's central location in what would have been Roman York's most exclusive and largest cemetery, all three phases of evaluation failed to find any evidence of burials on the site. The presence of a number of substantial boundary ditches suggested that it was a defined area rather than simply some waste ground and it was thought that it may have formed part of the cemetery but not necessarily been a place of burial. This interpretation was soon disproved when, in 2005, mitigation work which comprised a larger excavation did in fact record burials on the site. In addition to exposing a number of inhumations towards the southern and western boundaries of 89 The Mount, the work also found an in situ sarcophagus. This was removed in tact and currently resides in storage pending further investigation. Other cemetery features, including a boundary ditches and a possible cremation pit or bustum were also found during the work. The diary pages of this work can be found in pages on this site…
Current Archaeological Work
In 2005 the site was passed on to new owners (The Hotel du Vin group) who are redeveloping the site and refurbishing the existing building as a new hotel. The programme of archaeological works that was started in 2005 has continued, excavating two areas in advance of two new buildings and extending the original excavation area next to Scarcroft Road. The work so far has revealed more of the Roman cemetery on the site in the form of burials and ditches as well as evidence for later medieval activity along The Mount.
An open day presenting the results of the archaeological works to date has been planned for Saturday the 3rd February between 11.00am and 3.00pm. Entry is free and team members will be on hand to give people a guided tour of the site.
