Land at Clyst Road, Topsham, Exeter

The evaluation comprised the excavation of 8no 30m x 1.8m trenches. The trenches were located to test geophysical anomalies (Substrata 2023) and to provide a representative sample of the remainder of the site, excluding the area crossed by high voltage overhead lines (the northern part of the site). The trenches sampled approx. 3% of the available site area. Trenches were set out on OS National Grid co-ordinates using Leica GPS. Overburden was stripped from the trenches by a mechanical excavator fitted with a toothless grading bucket. All machining was conducted under archaeological supervision to the top of the natural substrate, which was the level at which archaeological features were first encountered. Archaeological features/deposits were investigated, planned and recorded in accordance with CA Technical Manual 1: Fieldwork Recording Manual. Deposits were assessed for their palaeoenvironmental potential and samples were taken in accordance with CA Technical Manual 2: The Taking and Processing of Environmental and Other Samples from Archaeological Sites. As no artefacts were recovered during the evaluation, no material (finds) archive will be deposited. A digital archive will be deposited with the Archaeology Data Service (ADS). This archive will be compiled in accordance with the ADS Instructions for Depositors (2022) and Standard and guidance for the creation, compilation, transfer and deposition of archaeological archives (CIfA 2014; updated October 2020). In December 2024, Cotswold Archaeology carried out an archaeological evaluation of land at Clyst Road, Topsham, Exeter, Devon. A total of eight trenches were excavated. The evaluation recorded five ditches, a furrow and a hedgerow base. No artefactual material was present. A number of the ditches were on the same broad alignment as late post-medieval/modern boundary ditches recorded during previous archaeological works to the immediate south-west of the application site, and may therefore be of similar date. This hypothesis is supported by a modern (post- AD 1950) radiocarbon date obtained from the fill of one ditch.