Archaeology

The Derwent ward of the City of York is made up of the Dunnington, Grimston, Kexby and Holtby parishes. All are recorded in the Domesday Book and the names tell us that there was settlement here in Saxon and Viking times. But the origin of settlement in the area is many thousands of years earlier, possibly from the end of the last period of glaciation some 10,000 years ago. This period left behind the York moraine which the Derwent ward straddles. The route along the top of the moraine, now Stamford Bridge road (A166), would have been an important track for trade, and the river routes of the Ouse and the Derwent might also have added to the attraction of the area for settlement.

The earliest evidence of the Neolithic period in Dunnington are flint scrapers from a garden in the village, a similarly dated stone axe from a local farm and flint nodules from various sites.

Neolithic Axe Head

During the Neolithic or New Stone Age period from 5,000 to 2,500 BC people were buried communally in long barrows and aerial photographs suggest three such barrows between Hagg Wood and the River Derwent. Settlement continued during the Bronze Age from 2,500 BC to around 1,000 BC and must have been significant in population terms, as aerial photographs suggest at least 26 of the round barrows which may have been used for burial. Two of these are 50 metres in diameter and would have been some 10 metres high.

By Iron Age and Romano-British times, from around 1000 BC onwards, settlement was extensive, as one site for example is at least 500x400 metres in extent. Field walking and metal detecting have produced quantities of Medieval, Roman and Pre-historic pottery, metal work including a votive offering and Roman coins and many oyster shells. Two Roman altars were found in the 19th Century on Dunnington Common and a major Roman road runs from York more or less along the ridge of the moraine before dropping down to cross the river Derwent just south of Stamford Bridge.

Roman Melon Bead

View our finds on Comm@net.

Supported by the Local Heritage Initiative

For more information contact archaeology@dunningtonhistory.org.uk

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