About the site…
| York Archaeological Trust, in partnership with the York
Museums Trust, will be excavating in the northern part of the precinct of
St Mary's Abbey. The excavation will be looking to answer a number of questions
about the archaeology on the site, which dates from the Roman period onwards.
This is a unique opportunity to excavate an urban archaeological site in
York that has not been previously investigated.
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| The site is adjacent to Bootham, originally the Roman road which leaves the fortress of Eboracum by the north-west gate and heads for Aldborough and the North. |
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St. Mary's Abbey was founded in 1088 as a Benedictine house. In 1132,
religious arguments and a desire for reform led the Prior and a number
of monks to leave and found the famous Cistercian house of Fountains Abbey
near Ripon. However, St. Mary's continued to thrive until the Dissolution
in 1539. |
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Speed's map of York in 1618 |
