| AdminHistory | Extensive archaeological excavations beneath York Minster were carried out between 1966 and 1973, in conjunction with an engineering operation undertaken to remedy impending structural failure in the central tower and east and west fronts. The excavations revealed evidence of the Roman military headquarters building (principia) of the 2nd-4th centuries AD, secular and ecclesiastical use of the site during the 5th-11th centuries, and the great cathedral churches of archbishops Thomas of Bayeux (c1080), Roger of Pont-lEveque (1154-1181), and Walter de Grey (1291-1334). The Roman and post-Roman/pre-Norman phases, and an account of the evidence for the church of Thomas of Bayeux, have been published as RCHM(E) monographs (Phillips and Heywood 1995; Phillips 1985).
Wheeler was a member of York Minster Archaeological Advisory Committee, which oversaw the excavation programme. |