Land at Elm Grove Road, Dawlish, Devon (OASIS ID: cotswold2-133318)

A programme of archaeological works was undertaken by Cotswold Archaeology in March and July 2012 at land at Elm Grove Road, Dawlish, Devon. A total of eight trenches was excavated. The evaluation trenches were targeted on anomalies recorded during a previous geophysical survey. The only artefactual material found within a cut feature came from a pit or which possibly correlated with a discrete geophysical anomaly. This material comprised two flints of Mesolithic or Neolithic date. The pit may be of Mesolithic/Neolithic date but the possibility that the finds are residual within a later feature should not be discounted. The pit was further investigated during the mitigation works (excavation of an additional trench). No further artefacts were recovered. Four undated ditches corresponding with linear geophysical anomalies were also identified. The lack of artefactual evidence within these ditches suggests that they were field boundaries, and their alignments suggest that the remains of at least two phases of fields may be present. The fact that the anomalies and the excavated ditches are on different alignments to those depicted on cartographic sources suggests that they may be of some antiquity. In addition to the ditches and pit, two undated possible postholes were identified. No presence of the other geophysical anomalies recorded across the site was identified during the evaluation.