| Description | A watching brief was carried out by Archaeological Services WYAS in April 2006 during the construction of a new extension to the Diocese of Ripon and Leeds Offices. An early 19th century church called St Mary’s was known to occupy this site prior to its demolition in 1979; the foundations of which were partially uncovered during the excavation of the site.
The site of the church lies partly under the current offices, and so the only foundations that were exposed during the watching brief comprised the north and east exterior sandstone walls, and the remains of a small room to the southeast of the site; all of which correspond to early plans. There were also ten stone pier bases identified, which would have originally held up the arcades and defined the aisles. From the northern wall, 27 fragments of post medieval glass were recovered, but due to their recent origin, no detailed analysis of them took place. There is also tentative evidence to suggest that there were human burials at the site, with the discovery of a single unstratified radius from the trial pit, and a further 6 fragments of disarticulated and unstratified human bone found during the excavation of a service trench.
It is thought that a deep demolition deposit that covers the site could conceal any further features that lie at greater depths, including human burials, since there was no documentary evidence to suggest that the churchyard had been cleared of graves since it was declared a disused burial ground in 1922. |