The archaeological watching brief comprised the monitoring of ground reduction for a side extension on the south side of the present building using a toothless bucket down to clean natural geology followed by the excavation of traditional strip footings. All work was carried out according to the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists (CIfA) standards, and according to the agreed Written Scheme of Investigation (Roberts 2025). A digital colour photographic record was maintained, some of which is reproduced in the report as plates 1 - 5, Appendix 1. The fieldwork was undertaken by Michael Blake. The ground reduction covered an area measuring 12.2m by 7.5m and was excavated to a depth of 1.9m at the east shallowing out to 0.3m in the west as it followed the topography. Traditional strip footings measuring 1.0m deep and 0.70m wide were excavated within the stripped area. The watching brief revealed a stratigraphy of dark brown friable clayey-silt (101) which was up to 0.22m thick overlying the natural geology of mottled light orange and grey compact clay (102) which morphed into a compacted grey mudstone at depth. No finds or archaeological features were observed.
Michael Blake (2025) studied this question.