It’s in the Soil – The Medieval Hospital of St Leonards and York Theatre Royal
The excavation and watching brief carried out during 2015 at York Theatre Royal recovered evidence for the occupation and use of part of the undercroft of the 12th–century medieval hospital of St Leonard and St Peter, one of the largest and wealthiest hospitals in Medieval England, which occupied the site during the medieval period. Important evidence was also discovered for floors and occupation deposits which pre-dated the 12th–century building. Over the course of the archaeological investigations environmental and micromorphology samples were taken from both groups of deposits.
This project is analysing a series of these samples in order to:
• understand the nature of deposit formation
• provide evidence of environmental conditions and the use of specific parts of the former hospital
• reveal the nature of earlier layers; interpreted as a series of occupation deposits and internal floors, buried beneath the 12th–century hospital
By analysing of a series of deposit samples and micromorphology samples in conjunction with post-excavation stratigraphic analysis, a holistic report on the occupation of the Hospital undercroft will be produced.
