The evaluation consisted of the excavation of 61no. 30m trial trenches (a total of 1830 linear metres at 1.8m wide), equivalent to a 4% sample of the proposed development area. There was contingency for an additional 1% sample evaluation, should this have been required by PSECC to further investigate the nature or extent of any features identified by the initial trenching; other than two short extensions to Trenches 38 and 43, this contingency was not used. There was some evidence for scattered prehistoric activity on the site, largely consisting of widely dispersed pits and occasional tree throws containing a sherd or two of prehistoric pottery. Some of the earliest sherds have been dated to the Neolithic and Early to Middle Bronze Age, but most of this activity has been dated to the Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age. A significant amount of Roman brick and tile fragments was recovered from a range of features across the site, but the absence of any Roman pottery suggests that this material may have been imported to the site from the locality during the medieval period and does not relate directly to Roman activity within its bounds. In the southeastern part of the site, a pit was excavated and found to contain a moderately large (for the period) assemblage of Early to Middle Saxon pottery, a fragment of Roman Puddingstone quern, fragments of Roman tile, an iron nail and an iron object. This is the only feature from the evaluation that dates to the Early to Middle Saxon period. Evidence for past occupation of the site predominantly dates to the mid-11th to mid-13th century AD, extending in a c. 50m wide band of activity from east to west across its central area. The remains consisted of small ditches, probably forming a series of enclosures, within which were the remains of at least one possible timber building, an oven, a second possible oven or hearth and a midden deposit. These features are probably the remains of a small farmstead, domestic occupation indicated by the moderately large assemblage of pottery recovered from these features, alongside fragments of Mayen lava quern or millstone and large amounts of oyster shell. Following the abandonment of the medieval settlement in around the mid-13th century, the land reverted to farmland and continues in use as farmland until the present day. A former post-medieval field boundary shown on the First Edition Ordnance Survey map of 1880 was also investigated.
Lockwood et al. (Mon,) studied this question.