AN ARCHAEOLOGIST has hit back after developers claimed there was no evidence the Battle of Fulford took place on the proposed site of York’s biggest housing scheme.

Chas Jones said several strands of evidence pointed to Germany Beck being the site of the 1066 battle, including hundreds of iron items found at sites along the length of the beck, which may have been “workshops” for recycling pieces of metal left over from the fight.

“We think that the defeat of the Norse army at Stamford Bridge meant that this work was abandoned and the sites were quickly flooded, preserving these field workshops,” he said.

“This discovery helps to explain why no physical evidence has been found for the Hastings battle, a few weeks later – it looks as if the battle debris was normally removed.

“So Fulford is an extremely important archaeological site because, rather like Pompeii, the material was frozen in time and preserved for us to study.

“It really is time for more accuracy in the planning process. The applicant should not be permitted to deny the facts about our heritage.”

He said a detailed study of the changing landscape and underlying geology had allowed the ford at the heart of the battle to be identified and literature from centuries after the battle also described a location that could not be made to fit any other place in Fulford except Germany Beck.

His comments came after housebuilders Persimmon, applying to City of York Council to extend the time limit for outline consent for the 700-home Germany Beck scheme, stated in a document: “The Battle of Fulford took place on September 20, 1066, and in 2002, the Battle of Fulford Society was formed by Charles Jones to establish the location of the battle.

“While much work has been undertaken, there has been no archaeological evidence to support this hypothesis.”

Mr Jones said all of the research about the battle had been published and presented at academic conferences. He said: “What we need is a public debate to decide if we really want the site of the the first battle of 1066 to be covered in tarmac to provide the access road to the planned housing.”

Andrew Bowes, managing director at Persimmon Homes Yorkshire, said it was familiar with all the work by Mr Jones concerning the Germany Beck site.

“A technical update to the environmental impact assessment has been provided as part of the planning submission that takes full account of this additional work,” he said.