Land at Courtlands Cross, Exmouth, Devon

The evaluation fieldwork comprised the excavation of 40 trenches: " 6no 40m x 1.8m trenches; and " 34no 30m x 1.8m trenches. The trenches were located to test geophysical anomalies (Substrata 2024) and to provide a representative sample of the remainder of the application site. The trenches sampled c. 3% of the available site area. Areas currently covered by copses were also excluded, and buffers were left around known services. 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 in accordance with CA Technical Manual 2: The Taking and Processing of Environmental and Other Samples from Archaeological Sites. No deposits were identified that required sampling. 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 and March 2025, Cotswold Archaeology carried out an archaeological evaluation of land at Courtlands Cross, Exmouth, Devon. A total of 40 trenches were excavated. The evaluation recorded several ditches in the western part of the application site and a small number of scattered features in the remainder of the site. None of these features were dated artefactually, although one ditch corresponded to a historic field boundary shown on 19th-century maps. The remainder of the features are of unknown date and function. It is possible that some of the undated ditches represent former elements within the extant field system, although the possibility that some of them are older in date cannot be discounted.