Seven 2.4m wide trial trenches were excavated by Colchester Archaeological Trust of land to the north-east of Palmer's Farm, targeting the clusters of Roman building materials defined during fieldwalking in 1997. <1><2> Various linear features were defined in T1, as well as pits, were defined below a ploughsoil and subsoil c.60-70cm deep. No features were defined in T2, apart from the concrete baseof an airfield parking bay, and no features were defined in T3, T4 and T7. A possible linear feature was defined in T5, and possible pits were defined in T6. It would seem from the report that the features were simply defined, and not sampled.