Note on trenching by D Williams in 2001 which revealed Roman tiles associated with the Doods Farm tile industry operating around cAD140-230. The trenching also recovered three small prehistoric flints. (358)

Evaluation by A Turner of PCA revealed two heavily abraded sherds of prehistoric pottery redeposited in modern features, and that much of the site had been truncated by previous levelling.

Watching brief by J Robertson of SCAU during groundworks associated with the construction of a replacement vestry. No features or evidence of structures earlier than the demolished vestry were revealed. However, a number of finds were recovered from the foundation and services trenches, including three sherds of pottery ranging in date from the Bronze Age to the middle Iron Age, three pieces of struck flint, and several pieces of calcined flint, providing evidence of prehistoric activity in the vicinity.

Resistivity survey and excavation by G Rapson of a section of a cropmark, previously recorded as a possible Roman camp, revealed an Iron Age ditch. The section was located close to the entrance and contained charcoal-rich deposits, the lowest of which included a large variety of unabraded sherds of burnished pottery. Upper layers included bead rims and grey sandy wares of probable 1st century BC or 1st century AD date. A sample of well preserved animal bone, including the skull of a red deer stag from which the antlers had been sawn off, was recovered from the ditch.

Evaluation by J Stevenson of SCAU prior to a residential development. Two pits of likely prehistoric origin, containing large amounts of charcoal and burnt flints, were found, although no definitive dating material was present. No evidence for Roman activity was seen despite the proximity of the villa site just to the south-west. A compact layer of building rubble seen in three trenches was thought to relate to the demolition of an 18th century farmstead that is known to have existed here.

Evaluation by A Holmes of OA in an area proposed for the construction of sports pitches. Possible prehistoric hearth pits and a ditch, together with a Medieval boundary ditch probably associated with the Royal Deer Park, and evidence for a Post-Medieval trackway were encountered, although the general density of features was low. No evidence for a postulated Roman road running through the site was seen, although a band of natural gravel was seen in the approximate location, which likely accounts for previously recorded geophysical anomalies across the area.

Excavation by M G O'Connell for SCC and DoE further examined a crop mark complex (figs I, 2). A very large LBA pit was found, in which fragments of worked wood had been preserved. The pit cut one of two parallel ditches previously assumed to mark a Roman road and now interpreted as a cursus. Closer examination of aerial photographs indicated two other possible cursus to the north, and a possible henge near the excavation site; the excavation also examined further a prehistoric trackway and Saxon features. Later work for SCC and the British Airports Authority confirmed the cursus identification

Soil stripping, mapping and sampling by D King of FA of a site close to the river Mole proposed for a new games area. The work revealed three linear features and a possible pit cut into the top of an alluvial layer present across the site. The dominating linear feature was up to 9m wide and possibly represented a trackway of medieval or post-medieval date. A stony layer running along its edge pre-dated the feature, and the Saxon pottery sherd contained within this layer may be either residual or date it to that period.

A series of fieldwork projects by N Cowlard and members of the SyAS Roman Studies Group around Cocks Farm villa to investigate it within its rural context. A metal detector survey of the field to the north and east of the villa recovered one piece of curved and decorated copper alloy that may have been part of a Romano-British decorative furniture fitting, although none of a number of lead and iron finds recovered could be attributed to the Romano-British period. Romano-British pottery and worked flint was also recovered.