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Summary

Possible sub-rectangular enclosure was identified by aerial photography south-east of St Mary and St Benedict's Church. However, an archaeological evaluation recorded ditches, possibly associated with a late medieval or post-medieval field system.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses: none recorded

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• (Former Type) SUBRECTANGULAR ENCLOSURE (Unknown date)
• FIELD SYSTEM (Early Medieval to Post Medieval - 1066 AD to 1750 AD (Between))

Full description

Gist, T., 01/12/2015, Archaeological Feature, Buckland Brewer, North Devon (Correspondence). SDV359301.

A sub-rectangular feature has come to light in the village of Buckland Brewer, six miles south of Bideford, North Devon (SS 420 209). This feature has been revealed as crop marks through imagery supplied by Google earth. The aerial photos date to 2005 and 2010. Additional evidence occurs in the form of a recent LIDAR survey.

The existance of a possible road or track is also observed on the 2010 aerial photo.

Ordnance Survey, 2015, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV357601.

Edwards, Z. + Simpson, H., 2016, Buckland Brewer, Devon Archaeological Desk-Based Assessment (Report - Assessment). SDV360468.

Based on the known and potential archaeological resource identified within and around the site, along
with predicted past impacts within the limits of the site, it has been concluded that there is potential for the presence of cultural heritage features within the boundary of the proposed development site,
which may consist of remains related to undated cropmarks within the site, which are
visible on Google Earth aerial photography.

This relates to a subrectangular feature located in the north-west corner of site. This feature has been revealed as crop marks through imagery supplied by Google Earth. The aerial photos viewed
date to 2002, 2005 and 2010.

Sworn, S, 2016, Land at Southwood Meadow, Buckland Brewer: Evaluation (Report - Evaluation). SDV360275.

An archaeological evaluation was undertaken by Cotswold Archaeology in August 2016 at Southwood Meadow, Buckland Brewer, Devon. A total of ten trenches was excavated. The evaluation recorded four ditches, possibly associated with a late medieval/post-medieval field system.

It is possible that the ditches recorded in TR1, TR3, TR4 and TR5 represent former field system boundaries and/or drainage ditches. The dating of these ditches is uncertain: while one of the parallel ditches in TR1/TR3 produced a single sherd of medieval pottery, the other produced a single sherd of mid-16th–18th century pottery and the ditches in TR4 and TR5 were undated. It is known, however, that the fields around Buckland Brewer were probably first enclosed during the later medieval period (AB Heritage 2016a). Furthermore, the earliest available map of the site (the 1842 Tithe Map of Buckland Brewer, reproduced in AB Heritage 2016a, Plate 1) shows the site boundaries as they are today, with no internal divisions. It is therefore likely that the field system ditches recorded by the evaluation were established in the later medieval period and went out of use prior to 1842, which fits with the pottery recovered from the TR1/TR3 ditches.

There were no features or natural variation corresponding to the linear cropmarks sampled by TR8. This supports the geophysical survey results in this area and indicates perhaps that any features in this part of the site have been lost to ploughing since the cropmarks were recorded.

Sworn, S, 2016, Land at Southwood Meadow, Buckland Brewer: Evaluation (Report - Evaluation). SDV360275.

An archaeological evaluation was undertaken by Cotswold Archaeology in August 2016 at Southwood Meadow, Buckland Brewer, Devon. A total of ten trenches was excavated. The evaluation recorded four ditches, possibly associated with a late medieval/post-medieval field system.

Bonvoisin, P., 2017, Land at Buckland Brewer, Devon: Geophysical Survey (Report - Geophysical Survey). SDV360212.

A Geophysical Survey (Magnetometer Survey) was undertaken covering a site of proposed development on land at Buckland Brewer, Devon.

There is a medium to high confidence rating that parallel positive linear features [GP 1C] identified within the north western corner of the site, are likely parallel ditches. While this could represent a feature such as a ditch or trackway, when taken in combination with features identified during a Desk Based Assessment (DBA) of the site (AB Heritage, 2016), this may represent something of more complexity such as a sub-rectangular enclosure (Devon Historic Environment Record, MDV113884).

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments: none recorded

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV7276 - Geophysical Survey: Land at Buckland Brewer (Ref: 10733)
• EDV7428 - Desk-Based Assessment: Buckland Brewer, Devon Archaeological (Ref: 10728)
• EDV7305 - Evaluation: Land at Southwood Meadow, Buckland Brewer (Ref: 16484)

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