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Summary

Romano-British square enclosure, south-east of Peamore Truck Centre, Exminster

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses: none recorded

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• ENCLOSURE (II to V - 101 AD to 409 AD)

Full description

Rainbird, P., 2017, Land at West Exe Park, Alphington, near Exeter: Evaluation (Report - Evaluation). SDV360299.

An archaeological trial trench evaluation on land at West Exe Park, Alphington, near Exeter, Devon, was undertaken by AC archaeology during March 2017. The site occupies approximately 13 hectares of agricultural land to the west of Exminster. The main archaeological interest is that a recent geophysical survey identified two potential rectangular enclosures of late prehistoric or Romano-British form, a ring ditch, which may relate to a ploughed-out former Bronze Age barrow, and a World War II gun battery platform. In addition, a series of linear anomalies relating to possible early land division were present.

Trench 1
This trench was located near the southwestern corner of the site and was L-shaped with each arm 20m long. It was positioned to examine the north and east sides of a square enclosure interpreted from the results of the geophysics survey. Natural subsoil (context 102) was exposed at a depth of 0.50m below ground level. Five sherds of pottery dated to the Romano-British period were recovered from topsoil (100). The trench contained two segments of the enclosure ditch (F103 and F108) and a pit (F111).

Enclosure ditch
Ditch segment F103 was located on the north side of the enclosure. In this location it measured 1.86 metres wide by 0.86 metres deep, with steeply sloping straight sides and a concave base. It had four fills (104-7). The fills were largely similar of grey/reddish brown loamy sand, but the two middle fills (105-6) gave the appearance of entering the ditch from the south and may be the result of slumping or slighting of an internal bank; these contained four sherds of pottery of Romano- British date. The upper fill (107) contained 50 sherds of pottery and five pieces of tile, all consistent with a Romano-British date. Residual finds comprising one sherd of pottery of later Iron Age date, while two pieces of worked flint were also recovered. Ditch segment F108 was located in a position corresponding with the east side of the enclosure and measured 2.11 metres wide, but only 0.42 metres deep with the base formed of bedrock. It contained two fills (109-10) similar to those in F103. This segment of enclosure ditch contained no finds.

Pit
Pit F111 was not fully revealed in the trench and measured 0.92 metres long by 0.86 metres wide and 0.26 metres deep, with steep to gently sloping concave sides and a rounded base. It had a single fill (112) comprising mid brown loamy sand. No finds were recovered.

Trench 2
Trench 2 was located near the southwestern corner of the site and was L-shaped with each arm 20m long. It was positioned to examine the south and west sides of the same square enclosure investigated by Trench 1 and interpreted from the results of the geophysics survey. Natural subsoil (context 202) was exposed at a depth of 0.42m below existing levels. The trench contained two segments of the enclosure ditch (F203 and F210), seven probable postholes (F212, F216, F218, F220, F222, F224 and F230) and two shallow hollows (F226 and F228) and these are described below. In addition was a natural treethrow hollow (F208).

Enclosure ditch
Ditch segment F203 was located on the west side of the enclosure. In this location it measured 1.13 metres wide by 0.50 metres deep, with steeply sloping straight sides and concave base. It had four fills (204-7). The fills were very similar to those recorded in enclosure ditch segment F103 in Trench 1. The upper fill (207) contained four pieces of CBM all consistent with a Romano-British date. Ditch segment F210 was located on the south side of the enclosure and measured 1.26 metres wide by 0.45 metres deep with gently sloping straight sides and concave base. It contained only a single fill (211) comprising mid-reddish brown loamy sand, which contained two sherds of pottery of Romano-British date and a piece of prehistoric worked flint, which should be considered residual in this context.

Postholes
Seven probable postholes (F212, F216, F218, F220, F222, F224 and F230) were internal to the enclosure and measured between 0.19-0.36 metres in diameter and 0.04-0.19 metres deep. Postholes F212 F222, F224 and F230 were aligned NNE-SSW over a distance of 8m. Their fills typically comprised various red or grey loams. There were no finds from any of these postholes.

Hollows
Two irregular shallow hollows (F226 and F228) were not fully revealed in the trench. These may have been of natural origin, but the fill (227) of F226 contained two sherds of pottery of Romano-British date.

The tile indicates that a Romanised building must have been present in the locality. There were only a few internal features exposed, with these comprising seven postholes, four of which mark a possible alignment 8m long; this could be an internal division or part of a post-built structure.

Dean, R., 2017, Land West of Exminster, Devon (Report - Geophysical Survey). SDV360136.

This report presents the results of an archaeological magnetometer survey at the above site, hereafter referred to as the survey area. It has been prepared for AC Archaeology Ltd on behalf of clients. The survey area location is shown in Figure 1. Twenty-one magnetic anomaly groups were mapped as representing potential archaeological deposits or features.

Group 1 anomaly may represent three sides of a former rectangular enclosure although the two approximately north-south trending sides coincide with the direction of survey traverse lines and so could reflect survey error. On balance, however, the anomaly group is characterised as a potential enclosure.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments: none recorded

Associated Finds

• FDV6558 - FLINT (Early Neolithic to Early Iron Age - 4000 BC to 301 BC)
• FDV6555 - SHERD (Early Iron Age to Roman - 700 BC to 409 AD)
• FDV6557 - CERAMIC (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)

Associated Events

• EDV7237 - Magnetometer Survey, Land West of Exminster, Devon (Ref: 1702EXM-R-1)
• EDV7323 - Evaluation: Land at West Exe Park, Alphington, near Exeter (Ref: ACD1572/2/0)

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