Land east of Langford Mill and Tye Farm, Langford, Devon: Results of archaeological investigations

Archaeological trench evaluation followed by targeted open-area excavation were undertaken by AC archaeology during November 2019 and then June 2023 on land east of Langford Mill and Tye Farm, Langford, near Cullompton, Devon. The evaluation comprised the machine-excavation of 12 trenches totalling 355m in length, with each 1.6m wide. The trenches were placed to test the results of a previous geophysical survey. The main findings comprised a previously unsuspected prehistoric ring ditch, potentially of Middle Neolithic date, which would place it in the second half of the 4th millennium BC, as well as a pit furnace dated by radiocarbon method to the early medieval (Saxon) period. Other features, largely undated, comprised pits, postholes and former field boundary ditches. The assemblage of finds include prehistoric worked flint and pottery, a few pieces of amorphous fired clay and iron working residues of slag and hammerscale. Some charcoal and a very small amount of charred plant remains, largely of wheat/barley grain, survived.