Evaluation and watching brief by L McCaig and D Britchfield of WA. The test pits were excavated to identify the depth of subsoil across the route of the proposed pipeline and so inform a strategy for the preservation in situ of potential archaeological deposits. The development proposal was subsequently designed to avoid impact on the archaeological horizons within the area of the easement that covered the majority of the development area, and truncation of the archaeological horizons was confined to the excavation of the narrow pipe trench.

Excavation by K Welsh of OA. A small hengiform monument, of probable Late Neolithic date, was the earliest feature revealed. Parts of a Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age field system were also recorded, with evidence for repeated modifications suggesting the relative longevity of the system. The hengiform monument appears to have been incorporated into the field system, rather than being overlain by it, indicating that it was still visible at this time. Evidence for settlement activity contemporary with the field system was also recorded.

Evaluation and excavation by C Ellis of COT followed initial evaluation of the site by AOC in 2006 (SyAC 94, 368). The work revealed that large parts of the site had been subject to extensive modern disturbance but excavation in two areas revealed evidence of activity from the Mesolithic, Neolithic/Bronze Age, Iron Age, Roman, medieval and post-medieval periods. The Mesolithic was represented by residual worked flint artefacts from later features.

Evaluation by C Ellis for COT recovered a Mesolithic/Early Neolithic blade from a tree-throw hole and a residual Neolithic/Bronze Age core. A probable boundary ditch and posthole, which were undated but characteristically post-medieval, were also revealed.

Evaluation and subsequent excavation by W Weller of SCAU produced residual Mesolithic and Neolithic flintwork and a potential Bronze Age ditch terminal. An intensive period of activity began in the Middle Iron Age and extended into the early 2nd century AD, with a series of boundary or enclosure ditches and pits dominating the excavated area. The ditches may have formed a rectangular enclosure or field boundaries associated with a central domestic enclosure of a previously, partially recorded farmstead.

Evaluation by T Munnery of SCAU revealed residual Mesolithic and Neolithic flintwork, a number of probable Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age ditches and medieval or post-medieval quarry/dene holes. The character of the ditches suggests they form part of a field system rather than a settlement enclosure.

Evaluation and subsequent excavation by G Dawkes of ASE along the c17km route, from Buckland Pumping Station in the west to the Outwood Reservoir in the east. Two sites of particular archaeological significance were identified: a prehistoric and Roman site in the vicinity of Buckland village, immediately south of the A25, and a medieval site located to the north of Buckland, adjacent to Glebe House on Rectory Lane.

Watching brief by W Weller of SCAU revealed evidence of settlement activity from the Late Bronze Age to the Late Roman period, including a storage pit of a 1st century AD date and possible boundary ditches that may relate to the Romano-British settlement sites excavated in the 1930s to the south of the school.

Strip, map and sample by J Wright of COT revealed two pits and two linear features, and recovered a small quantity of probable Mesolithic flint from the top of the natural substrate. One of the pits was similar to examples investigated in an adjoining area in 2011 thought likely to be tree-throw hollows resulting from tree clearance in the Late Bronze Age or Early Iron Age. The second pit is also likely to be the remains of a tree-throw hollow but probably of recent origin.

Evaluation and excavation by I Hogg of ASE following evaluation and a geophysical survey undertaken by WA in 2011 and 2012. Intense activity in the Late Bronze Age was recorded in two isolated pockets of the site. The corner of a rectilinear enclosure was recorded close to an area of pitting, probably the remains of quarrying and grain storage, although the main focus of the Bronze Age activity was in the east of the site where 147 postholes provided evidence for seven or eight post-built structures.