Land at Creedy Bridge, Crediton, Devon: Post-excavation Assessment and Updated Project Design

Wessex Archaeology was commissioned by Bellway Homes Limited to undertake an archaeological excavation of two areas, totalling 4 hectares, prior to development on land at Creedy Bridge, Crediton, Devon (Area A centred on NGR 283918 100978 and Area B centred on NGR 284238 101096). The archaeological excavation was carried out as a condition of outline planning permission, granted by Mid Devon District Council (Planning reference 17/00348/MOUT). It originally comprised an archaeological excavation of three areas (A-C), although the requirement for an excavation within Area C was subsequently removed following consultation with the Senior Historic Environment Officer, Devon County Council. A large assemblage of worked flint was recovered during the archaeological excavation and, although predominantly from demonstrably later contexts, provides the earliest evidence for activity within the site. Much of the material is of Mesolithic date, although there is potentially also a later Neolithic and Bronze Age component to the assemblage. Archaeological features were recorded within both excavation areas and ranged in date from the Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age through to the post-medieval and modern periods. These included two pits containing Beaker pottery, one of which was located within a ring ditch representing a probable barrow, a pit containing part of a vessel of Middle Bronze Age date, a series of ring gullies and curvilinear gullies representing the remains of prehistoric (most likely Mid-Late Iron Age) and Romano-British settlement, as well as many pits and postholes. Evidence for prehistoric (unenclosed) settlement was revealed within both excavation areas, while the Romano-British settlement was concentrated on an area of high ground between two palaeochannels within Area B and largely enclosed by a Romano-British double-ditched rectilinear enclosure. Former field boundaries and features associated with agricultural use of the land during the medieval, post-medieval and modern periods were also revealed across both excavation areas. A large and varied assemblage of finds was recovered, with an emphasis on the prehistoric and Romano-British (predominantly 1st to mid-2nd century AD) periods. This included over 15 kg of pottery, as well as worked flint, fired clay, ceramic building material, metalwork, iron slag, animal bone, clay tobacco pipes, and the remains of two wooden stakes. A small number of worked stone objects were also recovered including the upper stone of a rotary quern. Bulk sediment samples were taken from a range of features, and four monolith samples targeted the fills of the Romano-British outer enclosure ditch. The condition of the environmental assemblage recovered from bulk samples is variable, but most contained charred plant remains, including cereal grains, and wood charcoal. Well-preserved plant remains, wood and insects/invertebrates were also recovered from a small number of waterlogged deposits within the outer enclosure ditch.