The groundworks for the Route were undertaken ahead of the installation of a new below ground 132kV cable. The groundworks consisted of a single open cut trench (TR01), which started at Cherry Lane and headed broadly northwest before terminating approximately 50 m south of the treeline at the northern boundary of the field. TR01 terminated early due to a pre-existing cable crossing the Route, which has been bypassed using a horizontal directional drill. The topsoil was stripped either side of the trench but did not reach the archaeological horizon. The archaeological monitoring uncovered no archaeologically significant deposits during the groundworks. The intersected sunken feature yielded no finds or features of an archaeological nature and showed no evidence of being exposed or open for an extended period of time. If the feature had been exposed, it would be expected to find a build-up of sediment and animal activity such as snail shells beneath the topsoil. This indicates that the feature is likely naturally occurring.
Curtis Karallis (Wed,) studied this question.