Work is currently dominated by the need to get all the research material into shape for  publication in February 2010. Most of the report is already out for review. The plan is to present the report in a style that will make it accessible to the interested reader as well as a more critical academic audience.

dec 2009

Iron Work

A study of the metal work associated with the hearths has dominated the work for the last 2 years and recently the relevant parts of the collection were examined using XRF.

All the pointers, including the xrf work, suggest that this is ancient metal.

Soil survey

The hard work over several years allowed the surface of 1066 to be visualised. Much of the landscape is unchanged with two exceptions:

  1. The area of the fording place in 1066 had two becks flowing into it. One is buried below the playing filed that is about 3.8m above the natural surface. Germany Beck has been pushed to the northern end of the old depression that formed the ford by the material that was dumped on the surface.
  2. The Ings have risen (and continue to rise) at 1.51mm per year on average. Sometime after the end of the Roman occupation the mud from the floods probably made the ford the main route into York from the south. The ford was subject to the twice daily, tide but one can speculate that the flat shape of the underlying surface would only have blocked the route  on days of the highest tides (such as 20th Sept 1066). 

The surface revealed can be closely matched to the available literature.

Literature

Two mentions of the site of the battle at Fuelforde were found in 12th century works but contemporary writers only place the battle south of York. The area know as Fulford is revealed by a study of other literature as an extensive 'parish'. But there is also some pointers to suggest that early records distinguished the ford from the settlement (thorp), which was probably nearer York (and I personally favour St Oswald's Road) and the ford.

What was exciting was to be able to make more sense of the literature once the soil survey had been completed and the surface of 1066 reconstructed.