Prior to a planning proposal for the northwards expansion of Stanway Quarry, a trial-trenched evaluation was carried out by Colchester Archaeological Trust at Fiveways Fruit Farm, by means of 99 trenches totalling 2960m in length. <1>

A geophysical survey was also carried but by Northamptonshire Archaeology in 2008. It revealed four possible enclosures, former field boundaries and a dry valley. <2>

166 features were recorded. Of these, 71 (ie 43% of all features) were natural linears of probable geological origin, or tree-throw pits. Of the remaining number, 65 (ie 40% of all features) were post-medieval or modern (usually field boundary ditches). There were 27 significant archaeological features, of which three were Middle Iron Age (1.5%), three were Middle Iron Age or Roman (1.5%), and twenty-one were Roman (12% of total). Five features were undated (2% of total).

The majority of the excavated features were post-medival and modern ditches, and natural features. Periods of middle Iron Age and Roman activity were identified. There was a middle Iron Age settlement with quantities of pottery and loom-weight fragments. A number of Roman ditches may have defined a rectilinear enclosure.

There were two unstratified Neolithic flint flakes and no evidence of Bronze Age activity of the site. By contrast, there was considerable evidence of activity during the Middle Iron Age. Over 1.4kg of Middle Iron Age pottery came from a number of contexts. Most of it was residual in Roman ditches, but a large group came from pit F101 in T87 (although the geophysical survey showed a curvilinear ditch-like anomaly which coincided with F101, so it is possible that the pit was actually part of a ditch). Other evidence of Middle Iron Age activity took the form of loomweight fragments from four contexts including ditch/pit F101. Another feature of interest was F133 in T90. This seemed to be an area of trample.

A number of ditches were cut in the 1st or 2nd century across the area which had been the focus of the Middle Iron Age occupation, and just to the west of the possible curvilinear enclosure identified as a result of the geophysical survey. The nature of these ditches, many of which shared a V-profile, indicated to the author that they may have defined a rectilinear enclosure measuring approximately 62m east-west by 70m north-south. There may have been contemporary field ditches defining a field system around the ?enclosure. There may have been contemporary field ditches defining a field system around the ?enclosure.

The dominant features identified by this evaluation were field boundary ditches of the post-medieval, and sometimes the modern, periods.

Although the majority of the tree-throw pits were undated, it is possible that some of them are the result of modern tree-stump removal. In some cases, charcoal in the fills of the tree-throw pits may indicate that the trees were deliberately burnt down by humans. Such charcoally fills were noted in eleven out of the 39 (definite and possible) tree-throw pits.