Blue Bridge Lane
&
Fishergate House
Printed from the APC web site: navigation and non-essential images removed.
Please view on-line for full content (URL at end of document).
This document reports on a survey undertaken by the Historic Buildings Section of Field Archaeology Specialists on the standing fabric of a wall located in Blue Bridge Lane, York (Plate 1). The purpose of the investigation was to create a preliminary record of the surviving stonework of the wall and test the assertion that the fabric was of medieval origin.
Plate 1 The face of the wall
The main archaeological issue concerns the identification of the section of walling as part of the precinct wall of the Gilbertine priory of St. Andrews. Nineteenth century maps clearly denote a wall in this location as part of the 'Priory Wall' including those of the Ordnance Survey from 1852 and 1891. Furthermore, they also indicate a much longer stretch of walling than that which survives today. However, as already noted elsewhere, the service range of Fishergate House appears to have encroached on the current line of Blue Bridge Lane, perhaps occupying as much as half its current width. Therefore the possibility that the stretch of wall currently under examination might have formed part of the service complex cannot be ignored.
The fabric was surveyed using a Leica TCRM 1105 reflectorless EDM. The survey data was used to provide control for a mosaic of photographs taken with a Mamiya 645 Pro medium format camera. The photographs were subsequently computer rectified into a CAD package to provide a digital stone by stone drawing of the surviving fabric of the wall (Figure 1). This survey data has not yet been enhanced.
After survey a section of modern brickwork was removed from the wall-head to clarify the method of construction of the structure. Mortar samples were taken from the fabric thus revealed.
Figure 7. Location of Period 3 features (Interactive SVG image)
Removal of an area of capping brickwork from the wall-head revealed that the facing stonework was within a soft lime mortar matrix. This contrasts with much of the pointing on the exterior face of the wall which is of a hard cement mortar. Behind the facing stonework elements of a rubble wall-core were noted, set within the same type of mortar as the facing work.
The evidence revealed by the removal of the brickwork from the top of the wall was the most conclusive evidence provided for the dating of the structure. It is clear that the wall had been of massed-wall construction prior to the removal of its rear (north) face. Both the type of construction and the bonding agent used strongly indicates that the wall must have been built prior to c.1700. This fact taken with the evidence from nineteenth-century maps would suggest that the wall must be a surviving element of the precinct wall of St. Andrews Priory. However, the presence of reused medieval architectural fragments within the wall facing would indicate that the structure was built in the later life of the Priory.
Before further disturbance to the wall fabric is contemplated the existing survey record should be enhanced in detail. It is clear that the total removal of the rear (north) modern fabric of brick and breeze blocks would result in the disintegration of the remaining wall-core and possibly the wall face. This should therefore not be contemplated until there is a detailed archaeological record of the structure.
apc > monographs > blue bridge lane & fishergate house > archive > specialist assessment reports > wall assessment