Evaluation at Land Near Higher Bissoe, Perranarworthal, Cornwall

The archaeological evaluation was conducted in accordance with a Written Scheme of Investigation (Boyd 2025) drawn up in consultation with the Environment Agency Senior Archaeologist and in line with CIfA guidelines and best practice. A total of five trenches, each 1.6m wide and c.130m in total length, were laid out using a Leica dGPS and opened by a wheeled excavator (JCB) to the depth of in situ weathered natural using a toothless grading bucket. Exposed archaeological deposits were excavated by hand and in accordance with the WSI and CIfA guidelines. The evaluation was designed to establish the presence or absence, extent, depth, character and date of any in situ archaeological deposits to inform any further planning decisions within the development site. The trenches were located to target anomalies identified by geophysical survey (Webb 2025). Note, the position of Trenches #3 and #5 was adjusted from the agreed trench plan in the WSI, following the request by the Environmental Agency to ensure all trenches were over 3m away from the field boundaries. The archaeological evaluation took place in November 2025. Five evaluation trenches were opened across two of the fields, targeting geophysical anomalies identified by an earlier survey. 12 archaeological features were exposed and investigated, broadly validating the results of the geophysical survey. Five field ditches (four of them belonging to two medieval or post-medieval field boundaries), four postholes, one small pit, one tree throw, and an infilled mine shaft or adit, were investigated. The three postholes in the base of ditches 304 and 307 might relate to water management, or perhaps a structure that predated the ditches. Definitive evidence of Prehistoric or Romano-British occupation was scarce - confined to a single sherd of probable Romano-British pottery in one of the post-medieval field ditches - but the small pit and charcoal-rich posthole are likely to be Prehistoric in date, and the trenches did not target the more obvious features - a pair of penannular gullies - in Field F1. The post-medieval infilled shaft or possible adit was an unsurprising discovery given the proximity and intensity of mining in this valley. The results of the evaluation would suggest that the archaeological potential for this site can be regarded as moderate but localised. Given the nature and date of the identified remains within the evaluated area, and in particular the area around Trench #3, consideration should be given to excluding these areas from tree planting and putting in place measures to control vegetation growth (i.e. bracken) to avoid damaging the buried archaeological resource.