Archaeological excavations were undertaken by South West Archaeology Ltd. (SWARCH) for Savills (the Agent) on behalf of Acorn Bioenergy (the Client) prior to the development of a proposed biodigester on land north-west of Dean Hill Road, Willand, Devon (Figure 1). This work was undertaken in accordance with a Written Scheme of Investigation (Bompotis 2026) and Method Statement (Boyd 2026) drawn up in consultation with the Devon County Historic Environment Team. During the course of the fieldwork, once it was confirmed that services had significantly disturbed the area and lowered the archaeological potential for archaeological features/deposits to survive, an excavation strategy attempting to avoid these services and sampling the approximate width and length of the proposed development was adopted; with the option to sample additional areas depending on the results. This essentially equated to two 1.50m wide trenches: Trench 1 running 65 along the north-west side and length of the development area; and Trench 2 running 31m across the approximate middle and width of the development area (see Figures 1-6). These trenches were excavated to the depth of weathered Natural (c.0.32m) with sondages at each trench end between 0.45m and 0.80m deep. A 16 meters wide excavation of turf along the southern edge of the site was then undertaken under archaeological supervisions revealing service lines, but little in the way of artefactual evidence was recovered. The site stratigraphy consisted of a relatively consistent depth of topsoil comprised of c.0.15m of mid brown-grey, friable sandy-silt turf (100)/(200), and c.0.16m of a light grey-yellow, friable clayey-sandy loam (101)/(201), which in turn overlaid the Natural (102)/(202). The Natural was comprised of bands of gravels, sands and clays. Uppermost was a mottled light brown-yellow and yellow-grey gravelly-sand with occasional clay and patches of iron mineralisation (c.0.15-0.32m thick); which overlaid a band of mid brown-red, compact clay (0.05-0.35+m thick); which overlaid a band of mottled brownish- red and yellow compact clayey-gravels. 14 post-medieval to modern finds (239g) were recovered from the topsoil of the site: x1 shard (20g) of 19th-20th century green bottle glass, x1 shard (3g) of modern clear panel glass, x2 fragments (11g) of ceramic building material including a fragment of modern machine made-brick, x1 fragment (34g) of ceramic land drain, x1 corroded Fe nail/bolt (14g), x1 fragment (69g) of possible notched slate, x1 sherd (12g) of 19th-20th century White Refined Earthenware with stamped blue transfer print decoration, x5 sherds (60g) of late 18th-early 20th century industrial redwares (2 vessels: 1 salt-glazed, 1 tin glazed), x1 sherd (16g) of post-medieval (18th-19th century) North Devon Gravel Free ware. The site contained no significant archaeological features or deposits. No further archaeological works are recommended.
J Bampton (Thu,) studied this question.