Source/Archive record SEM341376 - Archaeological monitoring and recording at Church Cottage, Parracombe, Devon

A programme of archaeological monitoring and recording was carried out by Oakford Archaeology between July 2019 and February 2021 during works at Church Cottage, Parracombe, Devon. The work comprised the monitoring of drainage works within the churchyard and internal groundworks. The external excavations revealed that the building had been in part built into the existing graveyard, with six burials located in part underneath the foundations of the 17th Century house. A total of 12 burials were sealed underneath an extensive charnel soil containing both medieval and post-medieval finds, while four graves, including three with ledger stones, dated to the mid to late 19th Century. Internally the observations made during the renovation of the building have established the sequence of construction of Church Cottage, from its origins in the 17th Century as an atypical building with a passage and two room layout, away from the standard medieval plan so prevalent throughout Devon, and its conversion in the late 19th Century to two separate dwellings. Fragments of medieval earthenware floor tiles, dating to 14th 16th Century, were recovered from the external excavations. This included a fragment of inlaid North Devon tile and a type from the Normandy region of France not previously identified at St Petrock’s Church.