Though a standing stone was once marked on historical maps of the area, no trace of it remains today. The stone’s disappearance is just one piece of a larger puzzle uncovered during archaeological testing in 2004, when excavations for a housing development revealed something far more intriguing beneath the surface.

The archaeological survey, conducted under excavation licence 04E1302 by Mary Henry Archaeological Services Ltd, initially sought to investigate the location of the missing standing stone and two other stones recorded nearby. What the team discovered instead was evidence of extensive post-medieval agricultural activity; systematic ploughing and 20th-century field improvements, including drainage systems and the removal of large boulders. The land had been thoroughly worked over the centuries, situated as it was on level, productive farmland.

As the excavation progressed from west to east across the site, archaeologists encountered a natural depression running northwest to southeast through the landscape. Cut into the base of this depression was an impressive double-ditch system with a central bank of redeposited earth, forming a massive enclosure that measured approximately 145 metres north to south by 125 metres east to west. The ditches averaged 5 metres in width, with a central bank about 1 metre wide, effectively enclosing a natural hummock in the landscape. Despite the scale of this earthwork, no artefacts predating the post-medieval period were recovered, and no clear evidence of settlement was found within the enclosed area. The archaeologists classified this substantial earthwork as an enclosure, though its original purpose and date remain tantalizingly unclear.