Roman and medieval pottery found in fieldwalking by the Guildford Group of SyAS.

Community excavation by SyAS and SCAU, under the direction of R Poulton, of the Scheduled moated site. Foundations belonging to the medieval manor, including part of the great hall, were uncovered, and coins recovered indicate that the site was established by the early 13th century. The property was later occupied by Lady Margaret Beaufort before her son, Henry VII, decided in 1503 to develop the site into a palace. Evidence of this period was revealed in the form of foundations of an oriel window of the new great hall, begun in 1508.

A magnetometry survey carried out in September 2009 by members of SyAS in a paddock referred to in the 18th and 19th centuries as Brickhill and Brick Kiln Field revealed strong, largely rectangular, anomalies. An initial test-pit down to the top of surviving archaeological layers suggested that the anomalies were due to areas much affected by heat. Later work in the following year suggested these were the remains of substantial rectangular brick clamps of probably medieval date.

A watching brief by T Munnery of SCAU, following the evaluation of the site in 1996 that revealed possible medieval features, did not reveal any further finds or features of archaeological interest.

Excavation by P Jones of SCAU adjacent to areas previously investigated revealed evidence of activity spanning the early prehistoric to medieval periods. The earliest purposely dug feature was a large and deep banana-shaped pit that contained over 3000 struck flints of wholly Mesolithic date. Evidence of Bronze Age activity revealed across the site was of long duration, although probably episodic.

Evaluation by D Milbank of TVAS in advance of the creation of a pond, recovered a sherd of medieval or possibly Roman pottery from subsoil, but did not reveal any features of archaeological interest.

Three phases of archaeological investigation were carried out by S Ford, J Pine and J Lewis of TVAS in advance of possible future extraction on this site. The first phase comprised the excavation of 249 trenches and revealed a range of deposits of Late Bronze Age, Roman, Early Saxon, Late Saxon and medieval dates, within an area coincident with a cropmark enclosure complex; a small number of gullies possibly dating to the Neolithic or Bronze Age to the west, and in-situ Mesolithic artefacts and a Mesolithic pit.

Landscape survey and historic assessment by P Stevens of SHAHT. A number of landscape features were catalogued, including evidence for the former moated site. A resistivity survey by G James of SHAHT, conducted to identify the remains of the earlier medieval and Tudor manor houses, provided inconclusive results.

The first phase of evaluation of this site by R Lambert of SCAU revealed a variety of features dating to the post-medieval, Saxon and possibly prehistoric periods. The features largely comprised ditches or elongated pits. A second phase of evaluation to the south revealed deposits of post-medieval, medieval and prehistoric date comprising ditches, another elongated pit, and a number of smaller circular pits.

Evaluation by R Lambert of SCAU revealed a variety of features and deposits dating to the prehistoric, medieval and post-medieval periods. A ditch containing later Bronze Age flintwork was the earliest feature. The ditch contained a residual Mesolithic core, and a flint flake of Neolithic or Early Bronze Age date. Two joining pot sherds from a Late Saxon bowl were also recovered from a layer of post-medieval soil above the feature.