Between January and March 2011 five targeted open area excavations were carried out by Oxford Archaeology East in advance of the construction of a water pipeline by Essex and Suffolk Water. The excavation at Staunch Farm, a section of the pipeline 617m long and limited to the 4m-wide pipe trench (i.e. not the 20m-wide easement stip), located a field enclosure system of Bronze Age date running north-east to south-west and a medieval field system on an east to west alignment. <1> A single (?early) Iron Age ditch was also defined. Topsoil (dark greyish brown silty clay) was stripped to a depth of 0.3m across the site. The depth of subsoil (mid brownish grey silty sand) varied throughout the excavation area, being 0.1m thick when situated on the level ground and reaching a maximum depth of 0.6m towards the bottom of the slope. The natural geology comprised yellow sand and gravels. In addition to the controlled excavation, URS conducted a watching brief on the location of the construction compound. The compound was thought to lie on the route of a Roman road but no evidence for this was uncovered