Grove Farm, Market Lavington

English Heritage summaries. 2004/2005

The village of Market Lavington lies just to the north of Salisbury Plain and south of Devizes. Extensive housing development proposed for the centre of the village, close to St Mary’s church, was preceded by an archaeological evaluation (in 1986) and excavation of parts of the site (in 1990). The excavation, carried out by Wessex Archaeology and funded by English Heritage, was undertaken prior to the introduction of PPG 16 and was not, therefore, subject to MAP2 procedures.

There was limited evidence for prehistoric and Romano-British activity, and the principal interest of the site lay in the close proximity of Anglo-Saxon settlement and a cemetery and their relationship to the later medieval settlement and church. Palaeo-environmental remains further presented the possibility of examining these developments in occupation patterns within the context of the local environment and economy. Of particular interest in this respect was the palynological evidence for the existence of a vineyard at Market Lavington in the late Saxon period.

A draft excavation report was completed in 1995 and, following comments from English Heritage and referees (in 1996), substantially reduced in length in preparation for publication as a Wessex Archaeology monograph. A revised pollen report with additional radiocarbon dates was received in 1997. By mid-1997 the volume had been typeset as far as the start of the environmental reports (using a now obsolete package), but disagreement concerning the amount of detail to be included in the pollen report, the lack of a publication grant and other editorial commitments meant that no further work was undertaken.

The Anglo-Saxon settlement and cemetery evidence is still of importance, despite 15 years having passed, and in October 2004 Wessex Archaeology was invited by English Heritage to submit a proposal for completing the publication work. The agreed option was for the publication of a monograph in the Wessex Archaeology Occasional Paper series. However, it was recognised that updating the report would be time-consuming and costly, many of the contributions having been written in 1992. It was therefore proposed to publish the existing text with minimal changes and a clear statement of why this approach has been adopted. The principal exception will be the preparation of a substantially revised and expanded discussion that will allow the consideration of more recent work, particularly with reference to the cemetery evidence.

The approved project design covers the completion and submission of the draft publication report – the ‘Edit stage’. A project design for the production or ‘publication stage’ will be submitted as a separate document for the financial year 2005/6.

This page was published on 14/06/2005