Excavation and watching brief undertaken by R Brown of OA in advance of the creation of a swimming pool and related amenities revealed mostly modern deposits, but a rectilinear arrangement of postholes may represent the remains of a simple timber building of possible 16th–17th century date. This may have been a temporary storage or lodging structure associated with the construction of the manor-house or the domestic functions of the west wing. A Kelly of OA also undertook some historic building recording work before and during alterations to Sutton Place