Archaeological monitoring and recording at St Peter's Church, Shirwell, Devon

A programme of archaeological monitoring and recording was carried out by Oakford Archaeology in August 2025 during works at St Peter's Church, Shirwell, Devon. The work comprised the excavation of an area 3m wide, 2.7m wide and 0.7m deep for a new toilet and an area 2.3m long, 1.2m wide and up to 0.2m deep for a new access path. Although the works exposed no archaeological features and deposits, it nonetheless produced a small assemblage of material reflective of a small Devonshire village, with the pottery assemblage dominated by local coarse ware. The site has provided evidence of the longevity of North Devon pottery, with sherds dating from c.1200-1400, through to the 19th century, recovered from the site. The pottery was primarily domestic eating and cooking vessels, known for their utility, and in keeping with a rural village. A small number of additional sherds, including South Somerset coarse wares, which would have also been manufactured nearby, and a number of later industrially produced pottery sherds were also recovered. A single sherd of imported fashionable c.1690 - 1740 Westerwald stoneware was an outlier to the otherwise utilitarian and simple pottery culture expressed particularly in the medieval and post-medieval phases of the site. Finally, two particularly notable sherds of late medieval ceramic in North Devon fabric were found during the works, the first being an unusual green glazed floor tile, which may represent the first of its type, and a sherd of a slip and copper green glazed cup Although the works exposed no archaeological features and deposits, it nonetheless produced a small assemblage of material reflective of a small Devonshire village, with the pottery assemblage dominated by local coarse ware. The site has provided evidence of the longevity of North Devon pottery, with sherds dating from c.1200-1400, through to the 19th century, recovered from the site. The pottery was primarily domestic eating and cooking vessels, known for their utility, and in keeping with a rural village. A small number of additional sherds, including South Somerset coarse wares, which would have also been manufactured nearby, and a number of later industrially produced pottery sherds were also recovered. A single sherd of imported fashionable c.1690 - 1740 Westerwald stoneware was an outlier to the otherwise utilitarian and simple pottery culture expressed particularly in the medieval and post-medieval phases of the site. Finally, two particularly notable sherds of late medieval ceramic in North Devon fabric were found during the works, the first being an unusual green glazed floor tile, which may represent the first of its type, and a sherd of a slip and copper green glazed cup