Land at Newnham Farm, Plympton, Devon

An archaeological trial trench evaluation was undertaken by Cotswold Archaeology from 6 to 22 October 2014 on Land at Newnham Farm, Plympton, Devon. A total of forty five trenches were excavated, Trenches 1 to 38 and Trenches 44 to 50 spread across 10 fields (Fields 2 to 11) of pasture land encompassing c. 35ha. The trenches were targeted on the results of a previously undertaken geophysical survey as well as providing a random sample of the site. Trenches 1, 4, 5, 7, to 10, 13 to 15, 17, 18 to 27, 29 to 31, and 33 to 38 were blank with no archaeological feature recorded, the remainder of the trenches contained one or more archaeological features. These mostly comprised shallow ditches, most of which were cut from directly below the topsoil layers suggesting a post medieval or modern date. The features may be associated with mining activity both within the site and within its immediate vicinity and may possibly represent leats and run offs. A pit/post hole was revealed in trench 6 which produced a large quantity (114 sherds) of Middle Bronze Age Trevisker -related ware pottery along with fired clay, burnt stone and animal bone indicative of domestic/settlement activity. Although an isolated feature the pit maybe an indication of associated settlement activity in the immediate vicinity of trench 6.