Watching brief by J Warrender, L McCaig and G Santa Maria of WA during stripping of topsoil and subsoil over several areas, encompassing c 2ha, revealed multiple features including cremation burials, pits, postholes and linear features. The cremations comprised both urned and unurned burials, provisionally dated to the Bronze Age. A number of short lengths of ditch were also recorded although they did not appear to form any coherent boundary to the mortuary activity. The cremations were generally dispersed across the area though small clusters were observed.

Watching brief by A Hood of FA revealed several possible ditches/gullies and two small undated pits or tree-throw holes. The majority of the ditches were on a north-west, south-east/north-east, south-west co-axial alignment, suggesting that they represent the remains of a former ditched field system. There was a general paucity of artefactual material from the ditches, although a single sherd of porcelain pottery from one of the fills could indicate that they date to the later medieval or post-medieval period. Two small sherds of possible Bronze Age pottery were recovered from a subsoil layer.

Excavation by T Munnery of ASE of two of seven identified areas (SMS1 and WB6) highlighted as being of archaeological significance following evaluation (SyAC 94, 364).

Excavation by A Haslam of PCA targeted three areas of the site, identified following earlier evaluation (SyAC 99, 218). Area 1 was situated in the south-western corner of the site. It revealed two parallel, north-west/south-east orientated ditches, interpreted as a droveway, and a series of small pits and postholes that formed a sub-rectangular enclosure, possibly an animal pen or paddock, to their east. All were of probable Late Bronze Age or Early Iron Age date. A further sub-pen was identified within the south-eastern corner of the enclosure.

Excavation by A Haslam of PCA of 1m2 test pits across a colluvial deposit that covered the site, and previously identified during a programme of evaluation (SyAC 99, 218), produced c 7000 pieces of Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age struck flint. The bulk of the assemblage dated from the later Bronze Age to the Iron Age and may derive from middening practices spanning those periods. Although redeposited, the flint assemblage clearly represents all stages in the reduction process, from the preparation of raw materials through to the manufacture, use and discard of tools.

Evaluation by C Douglas of ASE revealed a single ditch and an adjacent tree-throw hollow, both of which contained prehistoric pottery. A horse burial was also identified, but given the good preservation of the bone, it was probably of recent date. A number of metal-detected finds were recovered from the topsoil across the site, all of 19th century or later date.

Excavation by P Jorgensen of PCA revealed three isolated pits dated to the Bronze Age or Iron Age. It is likely that the features represent ephemeral use of the land during these periods, although they may represent peripheral activity associated with settlement beyond the boundary of the site.

Two phases of investigation by P Jones of SCAU, adjacent to areas previously investigated in 2011 (SyAC 98, 253). No features of archaeological interest were revealed during soil removal to the west of the ‘Mesolithic hollow’ excavated in 2005 (SyAC 94, 370). There would appear to have been relatively little use of this area during the Mesolithic period, but later Bronze Age to Early Iron Age occupation was evident from redeposited material within a near-shore fluvial deposit of a watercourse.

Excavation by T Munnery of SCAU. The earliest features revealed were a small number of tree-throw hollows of Mesolithic and Bronze Age date, a similarly dated cremation that may have been originally within an organic container and two Bronze Age pits. An early medieval trackway and field system were revealed that were aligned to the western edge of a partially exposed palaeochannel. A post-built structure was carefully placed next to the trackway in the corner of a former field defined by a series of boundary ditches.

Watching brief by J Condliffe of WA. To the east of Whitehill Lane, a series of eleven postholes on an east–west alignment associated with a large quantity of ceramic building material was identified. This north-west corner of the field is shown on OS maps up to 1897 as being a brick quarry and the posthole alignment probably indicates the line of the boundary fence that surrounded it. To the west of Whitehill Lane, a pit cut by a large posthole was revealed. Each feature contained two sherds of highly abraded Iron Age pottery.