Blue Bridge Lane
&
Fishergate House
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Fishergate lies to the southeast of the Roman legionary fortress, constructed in c.AD 71-4, and situated in a strategic position between the Foss and the Ouse. The fortress remained an important military base throughout subsequent centuries, and developed as the main civilian town in northern Britain (Ottaway 2003, 1). It has been suggested that the establishment of the fortress in this position caused the main crossing point of the Ouse to shift northwards (Kemp 1996, 4). Previously, scholars have assumed that the major Roman road leading southeast from the fortress would have been located some distance to the east of the route of modern Fishergate (RCHM 1962, 1). However, recent finds have led to the suggestion that the route followed by Fishergate and Fawcett Street could also have been a major Roman road, leading from the southeastern wall of the fortress, across the Foss, and continuing south parallel to the Ouse (Kemp 1996, 4; Kemp and Graves 1996, 72). The site on Blue Bridge Lane would therefore lie immediately to the west of this route, outside the main residential areas of the fortress, the colonia and the canabae.
Finds in the area of the Blue Bridge Lane site have revealed the presence of a Roman cemetery, dating to the 1st to 3rd century. This testifies to the common practice of establishing extra-mural burial grounds along the major routes leading from Roman settlements. In York, cemeteries following this pattern are known to have been focussed on The Mount, along Heworth Green, and to the northwest, beyond Monkgate. These cemeteries comprise either cremations, inhumations, or a combination of both; the distinction is supposedly chronological, with cremations dominating in the 1st to 3rd centuries, inhumation and cremation coexisting in the 3rd century, later giving way to inhumation only (Jones 1984, 38).
In the immediate vicinity of Blue Bridge Lane, isolated burials, chance finds, and more extensive areas of cemetery have been revealed (RCHM 1962, 69; Jones 1984, 36). Finds have predominantly been associated with cremation burials, and the majority were located on the east side of Fishergate, mainly on the site of the Northern Command Headquarters building, between Winterscale Street and Melbourne Street, and extending northwards to the junction of Fawcett Street and Fishergate (Ramm 1957, 415-417; RCHM 1962, 69). Finds from the cemetery, recovered in the late 19th century, included pottery jars, some of which were found to contain intact cremations, and associated glass vessels (Ramm 1957, 415-417; RCHM 1962, 69). One of the best recorded examples consisted of a cremation in a rusticated jar, with associated ceramic vessels, fused glass accessories and an unguentarium, found on the site of Northern Command Headquarters (Ramm 1957, 415). At Fishergate School, directly opposite the Blue Bridge Lane site, a cremation in a 'pear-shaped jar with flat reeded collar' was discovered in 1929 (Ramm 1957, 415). More recently, Roman cremations were identified on the site of the Barbican Leisure Centre (YAT. Gaz. 1987.27; 1988.13), and further examples have been excavated on the site of St George's Primary School, Winterscale street (YAT Gaz. 1976.1027). Although no intact Roman burials were identified on the site of 46-54 Fishergate (Kemp 1996), the residual Roman pottery recovered included the rusticated and oxidised wares that are commonly associated with cremation burials.
These finds date primarily to the 1st and 2nd century, although the recovery of a 3rd century portrait head in the Fishergate area (RCHM 1962, 69), provides an indication that later burials, and possibly a monumental tomb, occurred in the vicinity. In 1897, a brick tomb was revealed in Grange Garth, consisting of a rectangular cist built of Roman bricks, and roofed with tegulae (RCHM 1962, 69). Examples of later Roman burials have been identified further north, at Coppergate (Jones 1984, 36) and are known from the western banks of the Foss, in Castle Yard (Ramm 1957; RCHM 1962, 67; Jones 1984, 36). The latter represent a particularly high status group of burials; lead coffins and ornately carved stone coffins were found, and grave goods included bracelets and jewellery (Ramm 1957). A coffin inscribed to a decurion of the colonia of York, found reused in a medieval burial on Fishergate in 1976, may have come from this cemetery (Rollason 1998, 90). Records relating to works undertaken on the site of the motte of Clifford's Tower record that a large quantity of human remains (disarticulated) were encountered, and that 'Roman pottery especially Samian was tolerably abundant' (Benson in Ramm 1957, 408).
The organisation of burials within the Roman cemeteries is little understood. At the Railway Station cemetery, Raine noted that the cremations terminated 'on a line so straight that it must have represented an original boundary, though no remains of a stone wall were apparent' (RCHM 1962, 79); at Trentholme Drive, Wenham observed that, while no boundary was revealed, the constant reuse of the site must have meant some form of delimitation (Jones 1984, 39). It is possible that similar boundaries might be expected at Fishergate.
Other Roman remains from the area have mainly been limited to pits and linear features. On the site of 46-54 Fishergate, YAT identified 'shallow scores in the surface of the natural subsoil and two shallow meandering ditches associated with much abraded Roman pottery probably represented ploughing and either field boundaries or drains. An even, site-wide deposit of disturbed natural clay contained abraded Roman sherds and was interpreted as 'tilth containing material from middens possibly spread as manure' (Kemp and Graves 1996, 68). This has been seen to reflect Roman use of this area for agricultural purposes, also suggested by ditches, possibly field boundaries, at Kent Street, to the east (YAJ 1974, 141). At Paragon Street, Roman activity included the digging of a wattle-lined well, and a series of pits and postholes at this, and other sites, indicate the possibility of occupation, or sporadic activity, in this area (YAT Gaz. 1984.15; 1988.2; 1996.172).
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