York Barbican - The Medieval cemetery of All Saints church, Fishergate, 11th-16th century
Lauren McIntyre and Prof. Andrew Chamberlain
Excavation of All Saints church at Fishergate, York, and the surrounding cemetery was undertaken by On Site Archaeology (see below) between July 2007 and February 2008. Approximately 580 skeletons were excavated and removed from the cemetery, with a further 113 skeletons removed from post-medieval mass graves situated within and around the church.
Archaeological evidence shows activity on this site dating back to the Roman period. Roman features at the site included a Roman ditch and several Romano-British burials. Previous evaluation of the coach park situated directly across the road from the Barbican site uncovered two Roman cremations. This, in conjunction with small fragments of cremated bone found within graveyard soil on the Barbican site suggests that the area has been used for funerary practices for a considerable amount of time.
The site has traditionally been identified as the church of All Saints Fishergate, and the discovery of an earlier wooden church on the site suggests that the church may have had Pre-Conquest foundations. The earliest documentary evidence related to the site dates to between 1091 and 1095, and indicates that the church was a cell of Whitby Abbey. The church does not appear to have existed beyond 1539, and the parish was united with the adjacent parish of St Lawrence´s in 1586. The exact location of the church was subsequently lost, only to be covered by a cattle market during the early 19th century.
Subsequent osteological study of the collection is being undertaken at the University of Sheffield, thanks to funding gained via the Knowledge Catalyst Scheme. Although analysis is ongoing, findings have been extremely interesting. So far, the cemetery itself has showed that demographically, the assemblage was typical of the medieval period, though in general the population are very robust. This, together with pathological markers such as high prevalence of degenerative joint disease and healed trauma suggests that these individuals were from an extremely hard working population.
So far, several individuals of interest have also been discovered. One male individual has what appears to be 
healed trauma to the skull, the most likely cause being a sword blow. One female individual displays advanced symptoms of systemic infection, most likely syphilis. Research is currently being undertaken to determine whether this individual is in fact Lady Isabel German, a well known anchoress who lived in the churchyard between 1428 and 1448. Several cases of leprosy have also been discovered, as well as cases of tuberculosis, scurvy, and one case of multiple myeloma (cancer of the white blood cells).
Also of interest are the ten mass graves that post date the partial demolition of the church. Of the 113 individuals interred within these graves, the vast majority are males aged between 15 and 40 years, suggesting the presence of a military group. Provisional dating of the graves as well as location of the site suggests that these individuals may be related to events occurring during the 1644 siege of York. However, despite the catastrophic mortality profile exhibited by these individuals, low prevalence of trauma indicates that these were not battle fatalities. An alternative explanation could be that these individuals represent a period if infectious disease, possibly within a military camp during the siege of York. Analysis of this assemblage is ongoing.
For more information email Lauren McIntyre at
email : pr1ljm@shef.ac.uk
On Site Archaeology can be contacted via their website at