Archaeological evaluation trenching was undertaken by South West Archaeology Ltd. (SWARCH) at the request of Lubo Developments Ltd. (the Client) as part of planning application 1/0919/2024/FULM associated with the proposed development of a builder's merchants and associated works on land at Clarke Estate, Clovelly Road, Bideford, Devon. This work was carried out by P. Webb, M. Anderson and S. Stevens on 7th July 2025 in accordance with a Written Scheme of Investigation (WSI; Boyd 2025). A single archaeological feature was identified during the evaluation, land-drain 802. It measured 0.20m wide and was not excavated. It was filled by (803), angular and sub-angular stone. Several tree-throws were also identified across the site of which a single example 302 was excavated. Only a small scattering of finds was noted, a mixture of post-medieval to modern white refined earthenware pottery sherds, glass bottle shards and iron machinery/car parts. None of these were recovered or retained. Despite the proximity of prehistoric and Romano-British settlement activity, the only archaeological feature identified during the evaluation was a land-drain associated with recent drainage of the land.
P Webb (2025) studied this question.