| Abstract: |
This report presents the results of a desk based assessment, a walkover survey, and a geophysical survey that were carried out by South West Archaeology Ltd. (SWARCH) in advance of a proposed residential/commercial development at Land at Higher Trewhiddle Farm, St Austell, Cornwall. The proposed development is located to the south-west of St Austell, within an area of farmland that is characterised on the Cornwall and Scilly HLC as Anciently Enclosed Land. This land historically belonged to two tenements - Dr Lambe’s Tenement and Grylls Tenement - and it formed a part of the larger Manor of Trewhiddle. This manor, first recorded in 1262, has a complex descent, with at least five separate settlements bearing the name Trewhiddle by 1842. A substantial portion of this manor was owned in the late 18th century by the Rashleigh family, and during tin-streaming at Trewhiddle in 1774 a hoard of late 9th century metalwork was recovered. Neither the precise location of the findspot, nor the location of the tin-streaming responsible, is known. Most of the manor was sold in the early 19th century by Charles Rashleigh of Duporth, presumably to cover his crippling legal debts, to the locally-notable Coode and Polkinghorne families. The farmhouse at Trewhiddle contains a 16th century core, which is probably the detached kitchen block for a larger and now-vanished house. It may not be coincidental that the fields a little distance to the south of the farmhouse were labelled Magdalenes Meadow and Old Walls in 1842. The farmhouse is a significant building in its own right, and, together with its associated farm buildings and the bank barn in particular, it forms a locally-significant group. The impact of the proposed development on the setting of the farmstead, and on the farmhouse in particular, is assessed as negative/moderate. The local area contains a range of archaeological sites, including a number of Bronze Age barrows and late Prehistoric or Romano-British rounds. Another significant find at Trewhiddle is an ingot of Tungsten that may pre-date the formal discovery of Tungsten in the late 19th century. The fieldscape is comprised of fairly large sub-rectangular fields bounded by stone-faced Cornish hedgebanks, and by analogy it probably dates to the Post-Medieval period. To the west, a large area around St Mewan Church has been subject to geophysical survey which has revealed a complex palimpsest of archaeological features, including one round and other probable Prehistoric settlements. The geophysical survey that was undertaken identified a large number of geophysical anomalies of probable archaeological origin, much like that of Coyte Farm. These include: two late Prehistoric or Romano-British settlements (including one round), a field system of probable prehistoric origin, a scatter of pits, a large possible sub-rectangular enclosure, a series of hollow ways, and a historic trackway. The impact of the proposed development on the buried archaeological resource would be substantial, permanent, and irreversible. |
