See important guidance on the use of this record.

If you have any comments or new information about this record, please email us.

Summary

The timber revetment of a former open watercourse was observed in Brook Street during groundworks for a flood alleviation scheme. The watercourse was covered over by a brick culvert between 1887 and 1903, becoming the line of Brook Street.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses: none recorded

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• WATER CHANNEL (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1750 AD (Between))

Full description

South West Heritage Trust, 1838-1848, Digitised Tithe Maps and Transcribed Apportionments (Cartographic). SDV359954.

Stream depicted. Open sections of the watercourse are also shown along the south side of Hind Street.

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

Open watercourse shown.

Ordnance Survey, 1904 - 1906, Second Edition Ordnance Survey 25 inch Map (Cartographic). SDV325644.

Course marked as Brook Street.

Best, J., 2004-5, Archaeological Discoveries (Report - Interim). SDV363600.

Excavations during groundworks for a flood defence scheme enabled the brick culvert carrying the Furze Brook, or Teap Stream, to be recorded. The culvert, less than a metre below the surface, was about 1.0 metre high and up to 2.75 metres wide. It is shown as an open brook on the 1891 first edition Ordnance Survey map but by the 1903 second edition it had been covered over as a road.
Beneath the foundations of the culvert was an earlier water course. Along the edge of the watercourse were a number of wooden stakes, the remains of a timber revetment.
Copper alloy dress pins and lace-tags, used for attaching costume lace to clothing, were found within the silt fill of the old watercourse.

Best, J., 2005, Archaeological monitoring of the Ottery St Mary flood alleviation scheme, 4-5, Figs 2, 4 (Report - Watching Brief). SDV322702.

Archaeological recording was undertaken by Exeter Archaeology during flood alleviation works in Brook Street, Hind Street and Saddlers Lane in 2003-4. A timber revetment for an earlier open watercourse, the Teap Stream, was observed below a 19th century brick culvert in Brook Street. The revetment consisted of vertical timber stakes, one of which has been identified as alder. Part of an east-west stone wall was visible for 2m along the south face of the trench. The wall consisted of limestone rubble bonded with soft mortar containing ash and charcoal.
Copper alloy pins and lace-tags dated to the 15th-17th centuries were found in the lower fill of the leat, the main concentration located opposite the public car park in Hind Street.
Cartographic evidence suggests that the brick culvert was constructed between 1887 and 1903. No dateable finds were recovered from the culvert.

Ordnance Survey, 2020, MasterMap 2020 (Cartographic). SDV363413.

Brook Street marked.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

Search results generated by the HBSMR Gateway from exeGesIS SDM Ltd.