ARCHAEOLOGISTS working in South East Cornwall have uncovered walls of a lost medieval village during a community dig at Mount Edgcumbe.

The discovery at Barn Pool brought great excitement to those working at the site, who unearthed a number of historical finds as part of the dig that was organised by The SHIPS Project and the Mount Edgcumbe House and Country Park.

More than 200 people dug side by side with experts to unearth centuries of fascinating discoveries, which included walls from the ancient village of West Stonehouse, a place that was sacked by the Bretons in 1338 and rebuilt before being destroyed in 1740 by the Earl of Mount Edgcumbe.

Those at the site also uncovered a neolithic grinding tool, coat buttons and sweetheart buttons from Americans before the D-Day operation, as well as Elizabethan and Roman coins.

A rare Plymouth Trout codd bottle was also found before it went missing, sparking an appeal online for its safe return. After The SHIPS Project team received a text on its whereabouts, the historic bottle was recovered.

Visitors to Mount Edgcumbe got the opportunity to come and see what was found at the site as part of an open day on Sunday, August 23. The items will now be re-covered for another year.

Archaeologist and organiser, Mallory Haas, said: “We’ve had a couple hundred finds and some of them are really spectacular.

“Some of the things that have come up include Roman Samian, some early stone tools, and because we know American troops were here, we have lots of evidence of their D-Day preparations on the same ground.

“All of these things tell us about how well used this land was and just how old this site is. We’re going back from Neolithic times and all the way up to World War ll.

“We are done digging and we’re going to put the site to bed, but we’ll be coming back next year, extending what we’ve learned and asking some new questions.”