Whenever you scratch York’s modern surface, you’re likely to find some incredible history.
And so it has proved after York’s latest hole in the road gave up some fascinating secrets of the city’s past.
The sinkhole that opened outside the Theatre Royal contains remnants of a medieval hospital, architects believe.
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St Leonard’s Hospital stretched from the modern day Museum Gardens to the Theatre Royal in the 12th and 13th centuries, making it one of the biggest in the north.
After the Reformation it was used as the Royal Mint, giving it its post-medieval name of Mint Yard.
Some of the remains are likely to be the buildings of Mint Yard, which by the 1800s were a warren of residencies, yards and stables and were demolished to make way from the new Georgian streetscape in 1836.
At that time it became one of the most fashionable parts of the city. The demolished parts of the city walls were then used to create a base for the new road, which we now know as St Leonard’s Place.
The archaeological find was discovered as work was taking place to repair the sinkhole on St Leonard’s Place.
The findings have been recorded, photographs have been taken and further analysis is to take place.
This delayed work to repair the void. But that can now resume.
Work in the current area will take until tomorrow morning, before moving the site closer to the Theatre Royal to ensure the road surface is fully repaired.
The inbound lane closure will remain in place. It’s hoped that the road will reopen to two-way traffic on Friday (13 June).
City of York Council transport lead Cllr Kate Ravilious said: “We knew that there is a lot of complex archaeology in the area dating back to the Roman legionary fortress.
“Throughout the works we have been live to this while doing all we can to get off site as quickly as possible. However these finds, while fascinating, have set our timescales back a bit.
“We will continue to share updates as the work progresses. At peak times the inner ring road is very busy so we’re asking people to plan ahead, use the outer ring road to traverse the city where possible and consider other ways to travel to the city centre.”