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. Two pits (one of which contained finds of animal bone and sherds of 12th and early 13th century cooking pots or jars) are likely to be contemporary and represent evidence of medieval backland rubbish disposal. All but one of the five trenches contained remains of brick walls of 18th, 19th or early 20th century date, and these were probably part of a range of outbuildings and perhaps the garden walls depicted on OS maps. A subsequent watching brief revealed a number of walls, ditches and pits of probable post-medieval date. The walls are likely to relate to a stable block or farm outbuildings on the ‘Ecclesfield’ estate seen on the 1754 John Rocque map. Some of the ditches and pits contained Bronze Age flints, but the suggestion is that the similarity of all the fills in the ditches and pits points to a post-medieval date, and that these features probably relate to backyard activity from the Ecclesfield estate.