Three trial trenches were excavated to inform the proposed construction of an anaerobic digester unit on land off Old Leys Lane, Willoughton. The trenches were targeted to investigate a number of geophysical anomalies recorded by a prior magnetometry survey (see ELI12176), and confirmed the presence of a probable quarry pit and former field boundary, but resolved a larger amorphous magnetic anomaly as a probable palaeochannel of natural origin. A further small pit was also recorded, sealed by the deposits of the palaeochannel. No artefacts were recovered from any of the features, which remain undated, although environmental samples were taken of their fills. These samples indicated that the area was mainly short open grassland, located some distance from any areas of settlement, at the time the features were in use. {1}{2}