The discovery of the medieval road in Trench 3 and the north-west end of the Victorian building redevelopment made us re-evaluate the site layout and search for the large Victorian building shown on the 1850 OS map. A quick decision was made which was to extend Trench 4 westwards which would cut across the still to be found building.
There is a saying ‘act in haste and repent at leisure’ and you can probably guess from our introduction to this item that after a week of work by a small team we did not find the western building! However what we found was mysterious: we found the foundations of several substantial structures related to the Victorian building in Trench 4 but none of these had featured on any of our survey maps.
Trench 2 medieval road. Excavation team member Chris Marshall looks at what he is about to remove.
After a further re-evaluation and careful measurement we believe that these structures were infill between the two other buildings and we are still not sure about their use.
Nearby in Trench 4 another team did make a very significant discovery. They found an example of monastic land reclamation with soils from the early medieval period being spread over a peat bed probably to create additional farmland near to the monastic buildings which later became Monk Fryston Hall. We came to this conclusion because the soil contained a good selection of early medieval Northern Grittyware pot sherds but analysis revealed that this soil type was formed over limestone NOT the peat which it overlaid.
Nearby in Trench 4 another team did make a very significant discovery. They found an example of monastic land reclamation with soils from the early medieval period being spread over a peat bed probably to create additional farmland near to the monastic buildings which later became Monk Fryston Hall. We came to this conclusion because the soil contained a good selection of early medieval Northern Grittyware pot sherds but analysis revealed that this soil type was formed over limestone NOT the peat which it overlaid.
Aaron Friar finds monastic tiles in in the lowest road surface (how many pieces can you see?) Meanwhile in Trench 2, Aaron Friar, a Selby College student, working with a team excavating the medieval road to learn what was below it and hopefully find some dating evidence, made a very significant discovery after several days of really hard work. The team, using coal mining picks and mattocks, had a challenging task to break through the concrete like road surface. Once through this surface they found 2 other road layers which were less well made but none the less were recognisable as road surfaces.
Aaron’s discovery in the lowest surface was what initially appeared to be pottery embedded in the road. After close examination and discussion with Site Archaeologist Simon Tomson, they carefully excavated the pieces to discover that the pottery were actually fragments, some glazed, of Humberware Tiles which were probably made at West Cowick and transported by water to Fryston to be used in the Monks chapel at the Hall which is recorded in the 1320 manor survey document.
Aaron’s discovery in the lowest surface was what initially appeared to be pottery embedded in the road. After close examination and discussion with Site Archaeologist Simon Tomson, they carefully excavated the pieces to discover that the pottery were actually fragments, some glazed, of Humberware Tiles which were probably made at West Cowick and transported by water to Fryston to be used in the Monks chapel at the Hall which is recorded in the 1320 manor survey document.
A tiny toad looks into Trench 4 which revealed the monastic land reclamation Water at the bottom of the test pit is in grey sand overlaid by peat; above the peat is soil with embedded early medieval northern grittyware potsherds.
The excellent example of stratification (layering) in the sondage(Test pit) also shows the remains of the Victorian building foundations.
The excellent example of stratification (layering) in the sondage(Test pit) also shows the remains of the Victorian building foundations.
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