Cite this as: Savine, B. et al. 2026 Romano-British Agricultural Land Management Adjacent to the Dringhouses Roadside Settlement, York: Archaeological investigations Abbeyfields House, Regency Mews, Dringhouses, York, Internet Archaeology 71. https://doi.org/10.11141/ia.71.8
Excavation in advance of building work at Abbeyfield House, Regency Mews, led to the discovery of field systems laid out in the early Roman period. Evidence of land management survived in the form of a series of ditches laid out in a grid pattern respecting the line of the nearby southern approach road to York. Pottery dates indicate use and maintenance of the field system in the 2nd century CE before falling out of use in the 3rd century. Analysis of paleoenvironmental remains from a 2nd-century CE well tentatively suggests that the local environment was one of damp open ground or grassland where the ditched enclosures were supplemented with hedgerows, and perhaps included small stands of trees. The presence of a large collection of 2nd-century white slipware flagons in the fill of the well indicate this water source was probably being accessed by people occupying roadside buildings at the neighbouring 42–50 Tadcaster Road site, where vessels of this type were also found in large quantities.
Following the Romano-British period there is no evidence to suggest that the site had been utilised in a particularly intensive manner. Several small and abraded medieval pottery sherds had found their way into the top of earlier features through post-depositional processes; however, it was not definitively possible to assign any features to that period. Agricultural activity likely continued at the site until enclosure of the area as gardens and sports grounds occurred in the 20th century.
Corresponding author: Ben Savine
[email protected]
York Archaeology
Figure 1:Site location
Figure 2: Archaeological features
Figure 3: Ditch Group 1003, cut [1067], north-east facing section
Figure 4: Ditch Group 1010, cut [1101], looking north-east. 0.1m scale units. Image credit: York Archaeology
Figure 5: Ditch Group 1005 (left) cutting Ditch Group 1004 (right), looking south-east. 0.5m scale units. Image credit: York Archaeology
Figure 6: Ditch Group 1005, Ditch Group 1006 ditch re-cut and modern land drain Group 1018, south-east facing section
Figure 7: Ditch Group 1006, cut [1022], looking north-west. 0.1m scale units. Image credit: York Archaeology
Figure 8: Ditch Groups 1014, 1013 and 1015 (left to right), north-west facing section
Figure 9: Ditch Group 1015, cut [1064], looking south-east. 0.1m and 0.5m scale units. Image credit: York Archaeology
Figure 10: Ditch Group 1014, cut [1016], looking north-west. 0.1m and 0.5m scale units. Image credit: York Archaeology
Figure 11: Ditch Group 1008 and modern pit, Group 1018, facing south-west. 0.1m scale units. Image credit: York Archaeology
Figure 12: Reused timber cask lining Well Group 1001. 0.1m scale units. Image credit: York Archaeology
Figure 13: Copper-alloy coin SF1 from (1114), base of Well Group 1001. Domitian As, 85 CE. Image credit: York Archaeology
Figure 14: Pit Group 1002, cut [1105] and top of Well Group 1001, looking north-east. 0.5m scale units. Image credit: York Archaeology
Figure 15: Ditch/Furrow Group 1016 (left) and Pit Group 1017 (right), looking south-east. 0.5m scale units. Image credit: York Archaeology
Figure 16: Pottery from Well Group 1001 – Drawn by D.G. Griffiths
Figure 17: Pottery from Pit Group 1002, Ditch Groups 1003 and 1005 – Drawn by D.G. Griffiths
Figure 18: Pottery from Ditch Groups 1007, 1010 and 1013 – Drawn by D.G. Griffiths
Figure 19: Pottery from Ditch Groups 1014 and 1015 – Drawn by D.G. Griffiths
Figure 20: Regency Mews and adjacent sites
Table 1: Romano-British pottery by ware (count, weight (in grams), and estimated vessel equivalents)
Table 2: Phase 2 pottery by ware and class (count, weight (in grams), and estimated vessel equivalents)
Table 3: Phase 2 Romano-British pottery by feature
Table 4: Functional analysis by form (based on relative proportion of EVEs)
Table 5: Analysis of waterlogged plant macrofossils from Roman Well Group 1001
Table 6: Charcoal analysis from Roman Ditch Group 1003
Table 7: CBM by form in relation to period
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