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Thirty-four 30m-long trial trenches were excavated, revealing nine archaeological features. These comprised three ditches, three moderately large pits, two small pits/ postholes and a probable natural geological feature. The features were distributed across the site, with no clear focus. Perhaps the most interesting result of the evaluation was the recording of a probable Late Iron Age ditch, cut by a large Roman pit, in the north-west of the site (Trench 6). The ditch may have been a field boundary, and the pit was perhaps dug to extract clay. The quantities of cultural material from these features are small, suggesting that they were located some distance from areas of contemporary occupation or other intensive activity. The main London-Colchester Roman road forms the north-western site boundary, so the presence of low-level Roman activity here is not unexpected. Two further shallow clay extraction pits were recorded in the south of the site (Trench 28); one contained a late-13th- to 14th-century Hedingham coarseware sherd. The absence of other medieval features suggests that the site was distant from contemporary settlement and the small quantities of pottery found may have arrived at the site through manuring of arable land. Other features were undated; one excavated ditch corresponds with a recently removed former field boundary shown on modern Ordnance Survey maps.

Stage 1a of the evaluation identified three undated postholes and two modern ditches that are probably related to post-medieval/modern agricultural activity or to landscaping activities in the grounds of the hospital. The features cut the subsoil in the trenches where such activity was present. In the area of the former sports pitch in the southwestern corner of the site, the Stage 1b works identified a bell-shaped circular Iron Age pit, from which was recovered three sherds of pottery and a hand-made iron nail, and a Roman ditch, probably part of a field system. A modern field boundary shown on late 19th-century Ordnance Survey mapping of the area was investigated in the eastern part of the site. Other features identified by the evaluation were either of natural origin or modern features and deposits associated with the former hospital, dating from the 1960s onwards. The evaluation identified large deposits of made-ground and redeposited chalk that were built-up to provide level ground for the hospital buildings as well as providing landscaped 'bunds' around these buildings. In places these made-ground deposits were also used to landscape banks across the site or to provide level ground for the sports pitch.

The site was immediately adjacent and to the east of an excavation undertaken by Archaeology South East in 2015 and many of the ditches encountered by this investigation continued into the current site. Foremost amongst these was part of a Middle to Late Bronze Age co-axial, rectilinear field system and trackway, which extended across both sites on a northwest to southeast alignment. The field system, which formed at least two fields, was over 300m long and 77m wide. A small assemblage of Middle to Late Bronze age pottery was recovered from the field boundary ditches. Middle Bronze Age pottery was also recovered from a small pit identified in a trial trench in the southeastern part of the site. The field system fell out of use and was replaced in the Middle Iron age by a track that formed part of a new field system on a differing alignment. In the 5th to 7th century AD, a shallow pit containing sherds from at least two pottery vessels was excavated near the centre of the site. Except for an isolated pit in the western part of the site that contained pottery of a similar date, no contemporary remains are known of in the surrounding area, so the function and association of the pit is unknown. In the 12th century, a boundary ditch was established in the northeast corner of the site and several pits were excavated, two of which contained sherds of 12th to 14th-century pottery and large quantities of oyster shell. This activity is probably associated with a small farmstead that may have been located just to the southeast of the site. Probably in the early 1600s, a timber post-built house with a tiled roof, stone hearth and stone-lined well were built in the northeast corner of the site, just to the northwest of the former medieval boundary ditch. The archaeological evidence and reference to historic maps suggests that this house continued to be occupied until at least the late 19th century and had been demolished by 1923.

Watching brief undertaken at Widfordbury Farm, Widford, Hertfordshire. Foundation footings and four test pits monitored.

This interim report details the results of the first phase of archaeological excavations undertaken in advance of the redevelopment of the Bircherley Green Shopping Centre, Hertford, Hertfordshire (National Grid Reference (NGR) TL 32701 12735). The archaeological fieldwork was carried out between 3rd December 2018 and 25th January 2019 which focused on the client defined Phase 1 of the development. The excavations identified a series of late Anglo-Saxon, medieval, and early post-medieval pits and wells. Many of the features on the site contained large pottery and animal bone assemblages mainly dating to the early medieval and post-medieval periods. Other noteworthy archaeological features included 18th century cellar floor remains, boundary ditches and several smaller discreet features. Ethnographic evidence matches well with the archaeological findings, which confirmed occupation and dwellings on the site from the 17th century. Buildings of similar date to those identified on site are still located on Hertford's Railway street, formally known as