History revealed by bridge work

WITH the demolition of the Queen Street bridge in York currently underway as part of the project to create a new entrance to the railway station, archaeologists from York Archaeology have used the opportunity to explore part of the city that has been buried for around 150 years.

The bridge itself is undergoing demolition, but in preparation for this, a new temporary road had to be built over the long stay car park – and this has yielded archaeology. The station opened in 1877. ‘Scoria’ bricks – made from blast furnace slag from the industrial North – would have lined the approaches to the station. Large area of these have been revealed.

Project manager for York Archaeology, Mary-Anne Slater said: “This is an area that has been substantially disturbed by building works during the Victorian era.

“Beneath the flags, we have found drainage ditches from the 19th century, and below them, evidence of large medieval ditches containing broken green glaze pottery and animal bones dating back to the 13th and 14th centuries.”

Although it is known that a Roman cemetery existed on this site, and some disturbed bone has been recovered, probably lifted from lower levels by ploughing, archaeologists are yet to excavate any skeletons comparable with those found previously at York Station.

Coun Pete Kilbane, Deputy Leader of the Council and Executive Member for Transport and the Economy, said that due to York’s 2,000 years of continuous habitation, unearthing history is a factor that had to be planned for.