Summary
The remains of a Jewish cemetery of medieval date, situated just outside the north-east side of York medieval city walls. It survives as buried archaeological features and deposits. The site also retains evidence for earlier Roman, Anglian, Anglo-Saxon and Saxon-Scandinavian activity. All above-ground features are excluded from the scheduling.
Reasons for Designation
Jewbury medieval Jewish cemetery is scheduled for the following principal reasons:
* Period: the cemetery is of critical importance to our understanding of the small, but significant medieval Jewish population of York, where there is little other evidence for it;
* Rarity: medieval Jewish cemeteries are very rare, with only 10 having been positively identified in England, and none are as extensively understood as this one;
* Documentation: the site is very well documented through a range of post-medieval maps and medieval, and later, historic documents, in addition to it being the most extensively studied of all medieval Jewish cemeteries in England;
* Survival: late-C20 excavation demonstrated that the cemetery remains are well preserved and that about fifty percent of all graves remain undisturbed, associated with what are considered to be boundary features;
* Potential: given the exceptional nature of the population sample, the burial ground has the potential to inform a range of questions about the nature, extent and longevity of York Jewry, the cemetery layout, and burial practices.
History
In medieval York, Jews owned a number of properties scattered throughout the city, with a concentration of substantial Jewish homes at the bottom of Jubbergate (Jewbretgate) and near the Jewish synagogue on Coney Street, although there is no evidence for a Jewish quarter in York. Despite the massacre of March 1190 at Clifford’s Tower, York's Jewish community was at the height of its prosperity in the first half of the C13. Sources indicate that this prosperity was mainly derived from the provision of loans to Yorkshire landowners, while a few individuals were men of national standing, such as Aaron of York, who acted as a financier to the Crown. By the 1270s such prosperity had been reduced by a combination of increasing hostility to the Jewish community in England, the continued exploitation of Jewish resources by the Crown, and possibly the development of alternative sources of credit. Based on the excavation of its cemetery, it has been estimated that the average population of the Jewish community of York ranged from 196 to 362 individuals, with a median figure of 260; this accords with the historical evidence from documentary sources.
In 1177 the Crown permitted provincial communities of Jews to purchase land for use as cemeteries outside the walls of the cities in which they lived. There are 10 known medieval Jewish burial grounds in England, but few physical remains have been identified by excavation. They are usually self-contained units within their own boundaries, and might be associated with buildings including a wash-house for the ritual cleansing of corpses before burial. The burials are usually laid out in rows, and are sometimes divided up into different sections for different categories of burials, such as adults and children. The direction of burial was discussed as early as the C5/C6, and there was no specific Jewish tradition concerning the orientation of bodies. However, in the later-medieval period, bodies were often buried with their feet facing the land of Israel, and the position of gates on cemeteries would identify which direction to leave come the resurrection. Simple wooden coffins are used, and some individuals were buried in shrouds. Burial is simple and the placing of grave goods in tombs is unknown in Judaism. The practice of burial in layers is generally avoided, as is the intercutting of graves due to the belief that disturbing the dead is inappropriate. Jewish burial grounds are regarded as sacred places in perpetuity.
The date of the founding of the Jewish cemetery in Barkergate, north of York’s city wall, is unknown but it was established before 1230, when a document describes the purchase of additional land, described as ‘a garden with trees’, for an extension to the cemetery.
In 1235 the cemetery was described as being enclosed by walls and ditches, a necessary protection against animals and deliberate vandalism, an increasing problem throughout Europe in the C13. At its peak, the cemetery is considered to have been considerably larger than other known Jewish cemeteries in England outside of London. The total land holding of the medieval Jewish community at Barkergate has been calculated to be about 1.6ha and documents suggest that the cemetery did not extend over the entire Jewish landholding in the area.
In 1290, on the orders of King Edward I and the Edict of Expulsion, the entire Jewish population of England was expelled and all their property forfeited to the Crown. When the properties of the exiled Jews of York were valued, the site consisted of ‘the place called Le Jeubyry…with a house and eight selions of land nearby. The same place with the house and land adjacent is worth 20s per annum’. In April 1291 ‘the place in which the Jews of York used to be buried’ was sold. Several historic maps dating back to 1694 show a well-delineated and landscaped parcel of ground bounded to the east by the River Foss and to the south by Barkergate. The north-east boundary of this parcel is depicted on all maps separating it from the land to the north. Published work suggests that the original cemetery and extension occupied this parcel of land. It is also concluded that the 'eight selions of land' probably occupied the area to the north-east of this main boundary feature, and was not part of the Jewish cemetery.
It seems that the cemetery remained open ground for some five and half centuries after the expulsion of the Jews. Historic and archaeological evidence suggest that for the rest of the medieval period the cemetery site was used as orchards, fields and gardens. In 1666 it was described as 'meadow or pasture ground', and it continued to be described as such until 1729, and is clearly depicted as an orchard on the 1:10,560 Ordnance Survey map surveyed 1846-1851, and published in 1853. By that date, however, the County Hospital had been built on part of the parcel and housing followed on the orchard site. Additions were built to the hospital before the end of the C19. In the mid-1960s the housing was demolished, and by 1983 only the original hospital building was still standing (County House, Grade II), which was converted to apartments in the late 1990s.
In the early 1980s, in advance of construction of the present three-storey car park on the site, and development for a Sainsbury’s store on the wider site to the north, the remains of almost 500 individuals were excavated and removed for study. Despite some uncertainty at the time, it is now accepted that this is the site of York's medieval Jewish cemetery. On 8 July 1984 these human remains were reinterred in a plot on the south side of the site, in the presence of the then Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of Great Britain and the Commonwealth, the Late Lord Jakobovitz and members of York’s modern Jewish community. The spot is marked by a plaque commemorating the medieval Jewish community of York.
INVESTIGATION HISTORY
The evaluation and large-scale excavations in 1982 and 1983 were carried out by York Archaeological Trust. Their main focus was on the area within the footprint of the proposed car park within the historic parcel of land. There was evidence for the use of the area during earlier periods, including Roman pits, ditches, gullies and a cremation burial, an Anglian ditch and Anglo-Scandinavian ditches and gullies and pits.
Some 497 individuals of medieval date were excavated, and a further 550 individuals remain buried in-situ. The burials were concentrated within a specific area and illustrated a high degree of ordering and organisation. They were inhumations, mostly supine and fully extended. Most individuals were placed within rectangular graves and most had wood coffins fixed with iron pins. About 20 graves were associated with coffin fittings, and around 57 were associated with C11 to C13 pieces of pottery. Two burials had possible shroud fastenings, and others suggested bodies may have been bound, possibly by shrouds. In keeping with the Jewish tradition of simple burials, there were few personal items, and the individual graves were rarely intercut. The burials were generally aligned north-east to south-west, and unlike the haphazard burials in York’s medieval Christian cemeteries, the Jewbury graves were relatively evenly spaced, and represented a remarkably uniform burial rite.
There was evidence for boundaries associated with the burial area on three sides. The north-east side was marked by a ditch, subsequently in-filled and burials placed along its line; a row of burials was also added immediately outside this ditch, but there was no evidence for organised burials beyond this row, only a single outlying burial was located beyond this. A ditch also appeared to delineate the north-west boundary of burials, although there was a single burial beyond this ditch. A ditch also marked the south-west side of the burial area, which was also in-filled, and burials placed over it; a series of stone deposits associated with the former boundary was uncovered in one trench; two burials were identified beyond this. No clear boundary was identified on the south-east side of the cemetery which is thought to lie either within an unexcavated area beneath the current car park, or further east and formed by the River Foss.
The scale of the excavations enabled studies to be made of the distribution of the burials according to age and sex, analysis of burial alignment, and an estimate of the size of the medieval Jewish population. Skeletal analysis indicated the dental health of the population, pathological changes in the bones caused by congenital abnormalities, injuries and disease. An indication of surgical practice was provided by the attempted treatment of a cranial injury. The Jews were indistinct from the rest of the population of medieval York in terms of their demographic profile, physical appearance, life-expectancy and health. This archaeological work is the only detailed study of a medieval Jewish population from England.
The site of the former hospital was explored by a set of evaluation trenches and four small area excavations. Gullies, post-holes, pits and two burials, one of which was in a lead lined coffin in the first area, and Roman gullies and pits, together with six burials in the second area. There was no evidence of significant ordering or organisation. Five of these burials are considered to be Roman in date; the remaining three are unpublished and their date is unclear.
In 2003 York Archaeological Trust carried out a watching brief on a series of bore holes at the Sainsbury's store. A single bore hole was sunk within the area of the former County Hospital excavation (23). The bore hole reached a depth of 19.4m and the 'fill of a possible buried feature' was encountered at between 2m and 2.4m. This was described as 'possibly Roman'.
Details
PRINCIPAL ELEMENTS: the remains of a Jewish cemetery of medieval date, situated just outside the north-east side of York's medieval city walls. It survives as buried archaeological features and deposits.
DESCRIPTION: the cemetery was constructed in an area that had seen activity from the Roman period through to its establishment in the late C12.
The cemetery is considered to be roughly rectangular in shape, and associated with ditched features on three sides, interpreted as boundaries, one associated with stone deposits forming a possible wall. The location of a fourth boundary is unknown, but is thought to lie further east in an unexcavated area beneath the current carpark, or was provided by the River Foss. Partial excavation of the ditched features showed that they are between 1.2m to 2m wide, and up to 1m deep; one example had been re-cut several times on the same alignment. Running parallel to the north-eastern and south-western boundaries are gullies about 0.2m wide and about 0.12m deep, which are considered to be the remains of possible flanking fences; one of these was partially excavated and provided evidence of a pair of stake holes. Partial excavations also revealed that the north-western and north-eastern ditched features had been deliberately infilled, and a row of burials subsequently placed over their line; on the north-east side there was a second row outside of the former ditch, and then a single outlier, and on the north-west side a single outlier. The south-west side had a single outlier.
There are considered to be about 550 burials remaining in-situ and undisturbed within unexcavated areas. Graves are orientated north-east to south-west, and are generally regularly spaced and placed in rows. These graves are expected to occur with the same density as was found within the excavated areas. Most burials are thought to be inhumations and are generally supine. They will conform to the excavated graves which were rectangular and of varying depths. Some were quite shallow and others up to 1.2m deep, but the majority of excavated graves were around 0.4m deep. Length of grave varies depending on the size of the individual. Most individuals are buried within wooden coffins with metal nails, and some are associated with metal coffin fixings. The graves are thought to have been originally marked, probably by stones.
The remains of about 500 individuals which were excavated in the early 1980s and individually re-interred in a plot at the southern edge of the cemetery remain there today.
EXTENT OF SCHEDULING: this includes the full extent of the area subject to excavation in the early 1980s in advance of the construction of the three-storey car park, which also includes the outlying burials. The reinterment plot on the south-west side containing almost 500 individuals is also included in the scheduling, and on this side the scheduling boundary is formed by the inner edge of the pavement. The archaeologically sensitive area beyond the 1982 excavations on the south-east side, extending as far as the inner edge of the pavement, is again also included in the scheduling as no potential boundary to the burial area was identified on this side. A variable margin around the known extent of burials of between 2m and 15m is included within the scheduling on the north-east and north-west sides in order to ensure the adequate protection of the remains, and in order that the boundary of the scheduling can be mostly identified on the ground.
EXCLUSIONS: all above-ground features are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground below these features is included.
