Archaeological monitoring and recording during ground works at Higher Southcombe, Northlew, Devon

Archaeological monitoring was undertaken by South West Archaeology Ltd. (SWARCH) at the request of a Private Client as part of archaeological work before building works associated with a single house plot at Higher Southcombe, Northlew, Devon. This work was carried out by S. Stevens on 20th February and 12th August 2025 in accordance with the Written Scheme of Investigation (WSI; Boyd 2020) having been agreed during consultation with the Devon County Council Historic Environment Team (DCHET). A series of 0.5m wide service trenches were excavated around the site (Figure 1), which were all to a depth within subsoil or c.0.2m into natural; with a toothless grading bucket and under archaeological supervision. Three trench footings were also excavated around the edge of a former lean-to concrete base, abutting the Old Dairy to the south. The footing trenches reached a maximum depth of c.0.95m and ran for a total of 16m in length. A pit for a new septic tank was also excavated approximately 18m to the east-north-east of the buildings (Figure 1), which was c.2m x 2m wide and excavated to a maximum depth of 2.1m. lastly, a sondage was excavated through a section of bank, which was due to be removed/made into a retaining wall. The slot measured c.1.5m x 2m and c.1.2m deep, down to the surface level to the south-west. No archaeological features or deposits were identified within the excavations.