| Abstract: |
An archaeological watching brief was carried out by Tim Brown of ISCA Archaeology on the 16th and 17th of May 2023, as commissioned by Landsense Professional, on the behalf of Mr B. Heal, during groundworks associated with the installation of a new farm track at Highlands Farm, Combe Martin, Ilfracombe, Devon (Fig. 1). These works were completed under the methodology set out by a Written Scheme of Investigation (WSI) completed by ISCA Archaeology (2023) and included the monitoring of the stripping of the farm track, over approximately 364m. as part of the planning application 76678.
The trackway lies within an area of high archaeological potential that the Devon Historic Environment Record (HER) shows containing a concentration of prehistoric funerary monuments, some of which are protected as scheduled monuments. Some 150m to the east, lies a square ditch enclosure, identified by aerial photography. As such, the development may have had the potential to expose and destroy buried archaeological and artefactual deposits associated with either prehistoric or Romano-British activity, and/or later medieval and post-medieval activity. The groundworks consisted of an area strip of approximately 364m long, 3.7m wide and to a max depth of 0.32m, comprising of the trackway alone, with no additional ground works (Fig. 2 and Plate 1). The soil sequence consisted of a mid grey-brown firm silty clay topsoil overlying three deposits, these deposits varied across the trackway. At the western-most end, close to an existing field entrance was a hardstanding of redeposited shillet containing modern plastics, this deposit measured c. 24m long by 3.7m wide and 0.05m deep (Plate 2). To the eastern-most end towards another existing field entrance the topsoil sealed a layer of tarmac surface containing modern ceramics, this measured c. 4.3m long and 2.7m wide (Plate 3). Elsewhere within the excavated trackway, the topsoil overlies a natural substrate comprising of a light to mid brown-red firm clay with shillet inclusions. No archaeological features or deposits were observed, and no artefactual material was recovered. Although no archaeological features were noted, there remains the possibility of their existence remaining outside of the area excavated and monitored. |
