| Description | An evaluation was carried out by WYAS on the 2nd and 3rd March and 17th and 18th May 2000 at land adjacent to North Baileygate, Pontefract (group record PRN 4610). The site, centred on the above grid reference, consisted of an ‘L’ shaped area of land measuring 0.7 hectares. The western side of the site comprised an area of concrete hard standing, whilst the eastern side of the site contained a former animal by products processing factory, a weighbridge and the foundations of buildings the formerly fronted North Baileygate.
Four trial trenches were excavated using a JCB fitted with a 1.75m toothless ditching bucket. Topsoil and modern material was removed mechanically under archaeological supervision until the first significant archaeological horizon or the surface of the natural subsoil was encountered (whichever occurred first).
Trench 1 was an inverted ‘T’ shape in plan with the longest part measuring 12m by 2m and aligned from west to east, and another conjoined segment perpendicular to the northern edge and measuring 4m by 2m. The trench was located in the southeastern corner of the site and was positioned in order to examine the possible preservation of structures forming the medieval street frontage. The trench was excavated through 0.8 1m of modern overburden which consisted mainly of coarse limestone hardcore and mixed earth; this demolition debris was likely to have been generated by the destruction of a row of cottages which stood on the site, adjacent to North Baileygate. Below this modern overburden were a number of layers containing charcoal and organic material which were interpreted as occupation activity. This layer was cut by a number of archaeological features. A single linear slot aligned from southwest to northeast ran diagonally across the trench and was cut by a pit. The slot was 0.3m wide and 6m long terminating in a butt end at its northeastern limit. A further linear slot with similar dimensions was aligned north to south and crossed the trench at its eastern end. Two leather items were recovered during the machining of this trench; the first was a worn shoe sole and the second was a piece of primary waste from the initial cutting and disposing of unusable parts of a tanned hide. The leather was unstratified but was associated with a sherd of pottery dating from the 11/12th – 14th century; the shape of the sole also places it at the earlier part of this date range.
In trenches 2 and 3 it was discovered that modern activity had totally destroyed any archaeological remains.
Trench 4 measured 12m by 2m; it was aligned from north to south and located in the northwestern area of the site, parallel to Mill Dam Lane. Modern overburden was removed to a depth of c.1m and the trench was excavated to a maximum depth of 2m. 1.8m below the modern ground surface was the remains of a foundation of a northwest to southeast aligned wall. It was 2.5m long by 0.75m wide and contained a single large, faced sandstone block measuring 0.36m by 0.36, by 0.3m. The foundation was interpreted as being medieval due to the presence of 11th 13th century pottery. |