| Abstract: |
This archaeological and historic landscape survey of The Dell/Happy Valley and surrounding parkland was commissioned by the National Trust Archaeologist (South West Region) to bring together the results of previous documentary research covering this area of the Saltram Estate, as well as to carry out a walkover survey to document any previously unrecorded archaeological features within this area of the Saltram Estate and to make recommendations for their future management. A range of sources, including historic documents, maps, aerial photographs, and LiDAR data, were consulted as part of the work. The land which comprises the survey area, with the exception of The Dell/Happy Valley, appears to have been within the ownership of the Dukes of Bedford until the early 19th century. This land comprised the farmsteads of Bickham, Hay, and Wixenford, which were small tenant farms. Although no sites of medieval (or earlier) date have been identified within the survey area, historic mapping from the later 18th century may indicate the existence of strip fields around Bickham. This suggests that it may have medieval origins, however mechanised intensive arable production in the more recent past appears to have removed any traces of medieval farming within this area of the estate. No evidence for the former access into Bickham that is shown on historic mapping was evident, neither on the LiDAR data nor on the ground. The development of The Dell/Happy Valley appears to have begun in the early 19th century with the establishment of The Belt plantation. The field pattern across the survey area appears to have changed little since at least the 1840s, the main changes being the extension of The Dell to the south assimilating an orchard that is shown on the Tithe map and part of Barn Park. During the Second World War, the estate was used as a temporary base for American troops, with concrete roads laid across the estate to accommodate tanks. Since the 1950s, Saltram’s landscape setting has been eroded by the creation of a landfill site on Chelston Meadow, screened by widening and replanting parts of the The Belt, and by the construction of the A38 to the east of the house through the parkland in the late 1960s and early 1970s. A walkover survey identified 64 features within the survey area, although some were determined to be non-archaeological in origin. It is likely that the majority of the features date to the post-medieval period, with some more modern features associated with the military occupation of the estate during World War Two. It is possible that some of the features relating to field systems have earlier (medieval) origins, however the regime of arable production across most of the agricultural fields within the survey area until relatively recently appears to have effaced any certain traces of earlier field systems. Within the other areas of the survey area, the ground vegetation coverage consisted predominantly of brambles and ivy with areas of fallen deadwood. This impeded the assessment of possible archaeological features within the wooded areas of the survey area, and it is therefore not possible to consider this survey to have been exhaustive. |
