Historic bones found during works on York Shambles

Historic bones have been discovered on York's Shambles during work to install anti-terror barriers.

The fragments are thought to be from nearby St Crux burial ground and have been sent for study, the council said.

Due to the discovery and "challenging ground conditions" the authority said it would have to extend working hours.

Meanwhile work in Goodramgate is now expected to take an additional three weeks due to "complex" underground pipes and cables.

James Gilchrist, director of Transport, Environment and Planning, apologised for the additional disruption and said the council was working to "maximise access while minimising delays".

"Working in a historic city centre, we are always mindful of unexpected findings as our work at Shambles and Goodramgate has shown, which is why we're upping our contractor's working hours to help mitigate the impact," he said.

One end of Shambles has been closed to pedestrians during the barrier installation work, which started on 11 September and is due to be completed by 6 October.

Contractors will now be on site from 08:00 BST to 19:00 from Monday to Friday and from 08:00 to 16:00 on Saturdays to get the work finished on scheduled, City of York Council said.

The Pavement end of Shambles is expected to reopen in the week beginning 2 October.

Work on Goodramgate was expected to be completed by Friday but is now not expect to finish until 13 October.

Business owners previously said they had seen a big drop in customer numbers as a result of the disruption.

Councillor Pete Kilbane, executive member for transport and the economy, apologised for the impact on traders.

"We are sorry that the work is having to extend and we're taking all feasible measures to balance timescales, disruption and project costs," he said.

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