Series: Stewart Brown Associates unpublished report series

This archaeological assessment was undertaken in November 2011 to determine the potential implications of proposed building extensions, landscaping and the provision of a new playground for St Mary's Catholic School, Buckfast. The work was commissioned by Grainge Architects on behalf of the Diocese of Plymouth. The site lies within Dartmoor National Park. The assessment site comprises a walled property bounded to the north by the 1982 link road and to the east by Buckfast Road. The area is subdivided by a NNW-SSE aligned wall, with the building and grounds of St Mary's Convent to the west and St Mary's School to the east. The area lies on ground that slopes to the east towards the River Dart, although the school grounds have been almost completely levelled, resulting in a difference in height of approximately 1m between the two plots at the dividing wall. The southern half of the convent grounds slope to the south towards the mouth of a narrow valley. This part of the convent garden holds a small canalised stream that presumably issues from this valley and which is culverted within the school grounds.

A rapid appraisla was made of the building in order to inform a planning decision regarding proposed demolition. The earliest datable features of the building which are visible today date from around the mid 18th century. It is possible that earlier fabric survives beneath the external render and internal plaster, and that the external projection of former ovens beside fireplaces at each gable end also might belong to an earlier phase, but there are no strong indications to believe so. Rather, the building's layout and present roof suggest a construction date in the 18th century. The interior underwent a substantial refurbishment in the 20th century when most internal partitions and doors were replaced, and the first-floor ceiling was raised. Since then, the windows have been replaced with plastic ones (2004), and the two fireplaces substantially rebuilt, the rebuilding covering over or removing the two ovens. The ceiling of the most easterly ground-floor room has also been removed to reveal the joists. These recent alterations have left behind only a few surviving features from the 18th-century phase, the roof being the best preserved amongst them.

Archaeological excavations associated with condition survey work at Berry Pomeroy Castle in 2007 revealed parts of the foundations of the north range dating from c. 1600, and demolition deposits dating from after the abandonment of the castle c. 1700. Limited work on the standing structure uncovered no hitherto unseen archaeological features.

In March 2000 English Heritage undertook some minor re-landscaping on the east terrace of Berry Pomeroy Castle comprising the removal of existing steps, the laying of a new gravel pathway 1m wide and planting of young gorse bushes. For part of its length the make-up gravels for the pathway were laid directly on the existing ground surface; for the remainder, the make-up deposits were laid within a shallow trench excavation. The trench for the path varied in depth from 0.15m at the top of the slope next to St. Margaret's Tower to 0.6m next to the present terrace wall, close to the North-East Tower. Stewart Brown Associates conducted an archaeological watching brief during the groundworks.

An evaluation trench opened against the inside of the deerpark wall showed that the wall was built directly on the ground and has no foundations. There was no large ditch along its inside as sometimes found next to deerpark walls elsewhere, including along another section of the Berry Pomeroy deerpark wall's circuit where earthwork remains survive. A small drainage ditch of about the same date and running parallel with the wall was found 3m inside it. The ditch however measured only 1m wide and 0.5m deep and would not have been large enough to have formed part of a barrier preventing deer from escaping the park. The wall overlies a soil deposit which may be an ancient buried ploughsoil.

Two evaluation trenches were opened on the site of a proposed development of the abbey's tearooms and restaurant (later known as The Grange). Preservation of medieval remains and deposits was very poor, owing to truncation of the area by modern landscaping and tree-planting. A shallow linear feature (4) might represent remnants from a robber--trench for a wall on the line of the precinct (inner courtyard) boundary.

A watching brief was carried out in 1994 on works to the standing structure which originally compised the medieval guesthouse prior to redevelopment as a bookshop. A related watching brief was carried out during trench excavations in the area to the front (east) of the standing structure.

In 2010, a recording project was undertaken prior to development of the works department at the modern abbey. The recording work covered a 19th-century mill leat and early 20th-century buildings and structures including a cow house, a probable generator house, and two turbine houses.

A desk-based assessment weas made of St. Anthony's prior to itsrefurbishment. The building is an early 20th-century three-storied light industrial building built in stone with brick detailing by the early modern abbey to house various crafts and industries. Until recently its principal use was to house the tonic wine and bee-keeping/honey extraction department. The building was doubled in length soon after 1937. The new part was built in the same style and materials. The building retains fixtures, fittings and movable machinery relating to past industrial and craft use. Some of these will be lost or relocated when the building is adapted for present-day purposes and brought up to modern standards. A program of work is recommended which charts the structural development of the building and records its fixtures and fittings, including machinery.

This assessment was requested by English Heritage in response to a proposal to construct a landscape mound adjacent to the restored south wing of the medieval guesthouse together with a bridge linking the mound to the first floor of the restored medieval building. The first floor of the building is presently inaccessible to disabled visitors. The proposed scheme was to provide access for all. The mound was to be raised on a flat area, currently grassed, within a part of the abbey site which has been scheduled by English Heritage. The development was not granted permission by English Heritage.