ARCHEOLOGISTS will be digging up bits of Newton Abbot town centre during the next four weeks to discover what they can about its history and origins ahead of the pedestrianisation enhancements works. The team from Exeter Archeology will be digging trenches in Wolborough Street, Bank Street and East Street, looking for evidence of demolished buildings or other structures. Marie Leverett, project archeologist, said: 'The most interesting trenches are likely to be the ones at St Leonard's, where we might find the remains of the nave. In Wolborough Street, we're hoping to find the remains of the market place.' They have already started work on the old Pascoe and Gill site in Wolborough Street, due to be redeveloped as shops and living accommodation. 'We think there were three to four houses fronting Wolborough Street with back yards reaching back 200 metres, right through the car park,' she said. So far they have found pottery fragments, wall footings, cobbled alleys, medieval rubbish and cesspits. 'It is the sort of thing we would expect. There were a lot of industries here – iron foundries, milliners, domestic dwellings. 'The finds will go back to the Finds Processing Suite so we will get a closer idea of when they date from. This area will have been subject to a lot of change over the years – with 700 years of activity it is difficult to know what age these walls are.' Pete Gay, of Devon Council Council, said that the results of the excavations would enable the county council to design the new enhancement works to minimise damage to surviving archeology. Additional trenches will also be dug to determine the depth and position of existing utility cables. During the digs, East Street will be closed to vehicles from Newfoundland Way to the Clock Tower, with diversions around the new Asda link road.