Gammaton Moor Solar Farm, Alverdiscott, Devon

Oxford Archaeology was commissioned by Lightsource bp to undertake an
archaeological evaluation of the site of a proposed solar farm. The site is
located east of Gammaton in the Parish of Alverdiscott, Devon. The work was
undertaken to inform the planning authority in advance of the determination
of a planning application.
One pit of early prehistoric date was recorded in Trench 69 which may suggest
there may be more features of this date within the eastern part of the site.
A series of post-medieval field boundaries were recorded within the western
part of the site, several of which contained pottery sherds dating to c 1600-
1800. Many of these features appear on the later 19th- and early 20th-century
OS maps and are probably associated with small post-medieval farms in this
area. These features are not especially significant, but they do provide
evidence of landscape change in this area during the 17th-20th century.
Perhaps the potentially most significant archaeological features are the
undated ditches and curvilinear features within the northern part of the site.
These include a 3.5m ditch which cut across a slope and contained ten fills
including several lenses of charcoal. To the south of the ditch a possible
enclosure ditch and two subcircular features were recorded. Part of a possible
C-shaped enclosure was also recorded in the western part of the site, and two
other undated pits were recorded in the central and eastern part of the site.
It is clear that that the site contains previously unknown archaeological
features dating from the prehistoric and post-medieval periods. The
prehistoric and undated feature/s may be of some significance, but the postmedieval
field boundaries are of low or local significance.