Archaeological monitoring and recording on land behind Robert Hone House, Sandhill Street, Ottery St Mary, Devon

A programme of archaeological monitoring and recording was carried out by Oakford Archaeology between May 2025 and March 2026 during the construction of new flats at the Ottery Feoffee Day Centre, Brook Street, Ottery St Mary, Devon. The works comprised the removal of the topsoil across the main excavation area measuring 18.2m long and 13.6m wide, with a second area for the site compound measuring 6.9m long 5.8m wide and excavated to a depth of 0.46m. The foundation trenches for the new flats in the main excavation in the centre of the site were excavated to a maximum depth of 2.15m, while further excavations for a temporary drainage trench measured a further 7.4m in length, 0.3m wide and 1.02m deep. The works at the northern end of the site within the compound area exposed the remains of a possible NW-SE aligned linear feature. The remains of a possible ditch or service trench this was cut through the earlier topsoil and filled with a single deposit of redeposited natural. Although similar in alignment with the former plot sub-divisions shown on the 1843 Ottery Tithe Map, it is uncertain whether this feature is of archaeological origin or the remains of a former service trench. Within the centre of the site the excavation of deep foundations for the new flats exposed a deep deposit sequence consisting of natural subsoil overlain by a mid reddish brown subsoil. This was overlain by an earlier topsoil, which was in turn sealed underneath a modern topsoil. A large number of 16th-early 20th century finds were recovered from the latter in particular, although they are likely to have in large part originated off-site. As is clear from the excavations in the centre of the site, the former land extending south from Sandhill Street towards the brook would have been slightly lower lying prior to the Victorian period. The remains of either a large ditch or the former brook, parallel with the street frontage and approximately NE-SW aligned, extended the full width of the rear of the plot. Cut through the subsoil this contained three fills within the excavated part of the feature. The former is likely the result of deliberate and gradual infilling of this feature from the northwest, with the pottery dating to the middle of the 18th century. The remaining deposits consisted of two extensive, deliberate episodes of infilling, with 1008 in particular representing a large-scale episode. This deposit is undated, although finds from 1004 above suggest a late 19th or early 20th century date for this. The brook at the rear of the property was culverted by this period, with the rear boundaries of the plots established byon the 1903 Ordnance Survey map. It is likely therefore on balance that the large-scale infilling of this feature is as a result of these works and the landscaping of the plot at this period. Finally, the work uncovered a large quantity of finds from the infilling of the former brook and the imported topsoil used to level the site. Although the majority of the assemblage is unlikely to have originated on site, it is nonetheless reflective of domestic occupation dating to the 16th-early 20th century and using locally produced utilitarian wares for cooking and serving food, Staffordshire industrially produced wares for dining and serving, and a very small number of imported pottery types, reflective of a non-wealthy domestic household environment. The works at the northern end of the site within the compound area exposed the remains of a possible NW-SE aligned linear feature (1002). The remains of a possible ditch or service trench this was cut through the earlier topsoil (1003) and filled with a single deposit of redeposited natural. Although similar in alignment with the former plot sub-divisions shown on the 1843 Ottery Tithe Map, it is uncertain whether this feature is of archaeological origin or the remains of a former service trench.