| Summary: | Oxford Archaeology South (OAS) undertook an evaluation along the proposed onshore cable route associated with the Atlantic Array Offshore Wind Farm. The proposed cable route starts at Cornborough Range on the north Devon coast and ends at the Alverdiscott substation. The 14km route will be up to 60m wide during construction in order to facilitate laying of up to a maximum of 10 cables and a construction access route including haul road.
The work was undertaken on an intermittent basis between 24th August and 28th October 2011. A total of 36 trenches out of the proposed 45 were excavated. The remaining 9 trenches were not completed as landowner permission was not forthcoming.
The main aim of the targeted evaluation trenching was to test the results of previous desk-based assessment and geophysical survey. With a few exceptions, the features identified in the non-intrusive surveys were successfully identified in the trenches, and very few additional features were identified in the trenches. This indicates that the geophysical and desk-based survey results are generally reliable, although the correlation between geophysical survey and excavated features was not always precise or consistent. The geophysical survey and low density trenching would not be expected to detect localised ephemeral remains.
The results of the investigation indicate a relatively low density of archaeological activity overall, although the targeted approach to the trenching meant that most of the excavated trenches contained features. Artefactual evidence was found for activity
spanning the Late Iron Age or Early Roman (1st century BC - 2nd century AD) period and the Post-medieval (15th - 18th century AD) and Modern (19th - 20th century). The density of artefacts, although very low, perhaps reflects comparatively intensive agricultural
land-use during those periods. The character of the activity in these broad phases varied, although the vast majority of the features identified can be interpreted as components of agricultural field boundaries or drains. No definite settlement or funerary
features were identified.
No definite prehistoric remains were identified. A substantial boundary that was identified by the geophysical survey and investigated in trenches 13, 14 and 15, was initially attributed to the later prehistoric period based on its curved alignment. However, comparison with the 1840 Tithe Map and survey plots suggests that the curving ditch is more likely to be a Post-medieval field boundary or lane. The feature produced no artefacts and the boundary itself is not marked on the Tithe Map, so the evidence is equivocal. A prehistoric date cannot be ruled out without further investigation. If a prehistoric date is proved by further investigation it would be of potentially national significance.
Four features, all linear boundaries, which produced very small quantities of Late Iron Age / early Roman pottery, were found in four separate trenches on either side of the River Torridge. Comparison with the geophysical survey plot for this area suggests that
the ditches on the western side of the river form part of a rectilinear field system. This is potentially of some significance at a regional level and is helpful for providing corroboration of the suspected date of a cropmark enclosure recorded on aerial
photographs to the north of the cable route (Gazetteer Site 10, HER 43947). The most common features encountered were Post-medieval field boundaries, many of which could not be dated on the basis of artefacts. However, comparison with the Tithe
Maps of 1838-41, the earliest available detailed historic map source, indicates that the majority of the features investigated in the evaluation formed part of the mid-19th century field boundary system. The chronology of enclosure of the landscape is uncertain but appears to pre-date the 18th / 19th century Enclosure Acts, as is normally the case in Devon. The evidence from the evaluation is consistent with piecemeal enclosure of the landscape, possibly in the Late Medieval and Early Post-medieval periods. |
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