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Summary

Historic holloway or footpath, land at Church Hill, Holbeton, South Hams.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses: none recorded

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• HOLLOW WAY (XIX to XXI - 1880 AD to 2017 AD (Pre))

Full description

Ordnance Survey, 1880-1899, First Edition Ordnance 25 inch map (Cartographic). SDV336179.

Bampton, J., 2017, Land at Church Hill, Holberton, South Hams: Evaluation (Report - Evaluation). SDV360830.

South West Archaeology Ltd. was commissioned to undertake an archaeological evaluation on land at Church Hill, Holbeton, Devon. The evaluation targeted anomalies identified in a geophysical survey undertaken by SWARCH in 2017. This report presents the results of the evaluation.

Trench 6, aligned north-east by south-west, was 30m in length and 1.60m wide. It was located to target a negative anomaly indicative of an historic trackway. A footpath/trackway was visible as an earthwork running from the south-east corner of the site to the north-west corner of the site.

Two ditches equate to linear features associated with the historic trackway, which was visible as an earthwork in the slope and contained stone chippings beneath the turf. Other than the two ditches on the down-slope side of the trackway, the only archaeological evidence of the feature was a 0.75 metre wide lens of limestone chippings, c.0.02 metre thick which overlaid a compacted subsoil: which was slightly more yellow and firm than the rest of the subsoil across the trench. The chippings, were overlaid by a turf layer, which may have built up over time or been purposefully reinstated. Chippings layer contained a corroded iron nail.

The historic trackway, which is extant in the topography of Field 2, produced no evidence of being particularly ancient, although the ditches associated with it, are buried beneath the subsoil, and does indicate that it was not simply a modern route-way. The chippings that define the buried track, were limestone chippings, some of which could be seen within the gravel footpaths at the adjacent church and they contained the corroded iron nail.

Bonvoisin, P., 2017, Land at Church Hill, Holberton, South Hams: Geophysical Survey (Report - Geophysical Survey). SDV360415.

This report presents the results of a geophysical survey carried out on land at Church Hill, Holbeton, South Hams, Devon. The site is located north-west of the centre of the village on farmland opposite across the road from All Saints Church. The geophysical survey identified twenty-six anomaly groups across all four fields.

In Field 2 there is evidence of a number of probable archaeological features, including the still visible historic footpath (a hollow-way, marked as a footpath on historic OS maps) leading towards the church and a probably previous field boundary enclosing the south-west corner of the field and the vicarage.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments: none recorded

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV7387 - Geophysical Survey: Land at Church Hill, Holbeton, South Hams (Ref: 170921)
• EDV7498 - Evaluation: Land at Church Hill, Holberton, South Hams (Ref: 171029)

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