Blue Bridge Lane
&
Fishergate House
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A large assemblage of ceramic building material (CBM) was recovered from excavation at Blue Bridge Lane with a more modest assemblage from Fishergate House. From Blue Bridge Lane over 10,000 fragments were recovered from Blue Bridge Lane and individually recorded and 478 fragments from Fishergate House. CBM was recovered by hand, fine- and coarse-sieving, and by flotation; no on-site disposal policy was implemented during excavation.
A small assemblage of Roman ceramic building material and a small fragment of opus signinum,albeit redeposited in an Anglian pit, suggest Roman building in the vicinity. The medieval assemblage was homogenous and dominated by plain roof tile which was present in the typical York peg tile form. Earlier forms were almost entirely absent from both sites. The excavation took place within the former area of the precinct of the Priory of St Andrew and it is thought that much of the material derives from construction, alteration and demolition of Priory buildings; waste from which appears to have been disposed of at the periphery of the establishment. Consequently, the material has been compared to the published CBM assemblage from earlier excavations undertaken by the York Archaeological Trust in the claustral range (Garside-Neville 1996, 294-297; Stopford 1996, 298-301). An assessment of the CBM recovered during the FAS evaluation of the Blue Bridge Lane site has also been used (Garside-Neville 2001).
Assessment and full recording was undertaken using a system based on that used by the Museum of London. A full recording and selective disposal policy was implemented during assessment; all information captured was entered directly into a Microsoft Access 2002 database and forms the full catalogue and part of the excavation digital archive. After full recording a disposal strategy was implemented and approximately 98% of the assemblage was discarded, which reflects the homogeneity of the overall assemblage. A large proportion of the medieval roof tile assemblage was recorded as blown, overfired, burnt or sooted, and subsequently two medieval tiles fabrics, which displayed these characteristics most frequently (M15 and M20), were selected for thin-sectioning to test the possibility that tiles were also produced in the Blue Bridge Lane kiln.
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