| Summary: | This report presents the results of an archaeological earth resistance survey at the above site. It has been prepared for AC Archaeology Ltd as part of a Bradninch community research project. The area covering the current cricket and its immediate surroundings was an American army temporary camp constructed prior to the D-Day invasion of Normandy in World War 2. The camp was subsequently used as a POW camp for German soldiers (Devon County Council Hstoric Environment Entry MDV80418, summarised in Section 6 below). This survey was designed to help assess the state of beneath-ground preservation of the camp and contribute to the understanding of its history. Forty-six resistance anomaly groups were mapped as representing possible archaeological deposits or features. One group is likely to represent a former field boundary recorded on the 1839 Bradninch tithe map but not on later Ordnance Survey historic maps. Fifteen of the groups appear to be associated with structures and paths of the former army camp recorded on an RAF aerial photograph taken in 1946. A further eleven groups are probably associated with the below-surface remains of the camp but cannot be characterised further. Six groups may be associated with the camp but other origins, such as ploughing disturbance or separate archaeological deposits, cannot be ruled out. Three groups do not appear to relate to structures associated with the army camp and may have different archaeological origins. A cluster of ten anomaly groups have a north-south or east-west orientation which does not correspond with any of the army camp structures visible on the 1946 aerial photograph. It is possible that these anomaly groups relate to land drainage or an archaeological structure not
recorded on the 1946 image. |
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