When developers planned to build twenty houses here in 2001, archaeologist Christopher Read and his team from North West Archaeological Services knew they were working in sensitive territory. The site sits within an archaeological complex featuring a passage tomb, a wedge tomb and two standing stones; ancient markers that would remain untouched, protected by carefully maintained buffer zones around the new development.

Before any building could begin, geophysical surveys revealed intriguing anomalies beneath the soil, prompting a thorough investigation. The team excavated four test areas, each measuring 20 metres square, and their patience was rewarded. In one cutting, they discovered a large corn-drying kiln complete with two flues; a practical reminder of ancient agricultural practices. More dramatically, as machines carefully stripped topsoil from the site, they narrowly missed an extraordinary find: a perfectly intact collared urn, standing upright and filled with cremated remains. The urn was carefully removed in a block of soil for laboratory excavation, preserving this Bronze Age burial vessel for detailed study.

Perhaps the most puzzling discovery was a semicircular stone platform, approximately six metres wide, consisting of three concentric rings of flat stone slabs set into a low mound of earth and stone. The northern half had vanished in antiquity, leaving only the southern portion as testament to its original form. Within this enigmatic structure, archaeologists found just two small blue glass beads and fragments of worked chert. Scattered across the site were other prehistoric tools, including struck flint and chert pieces, a hollow-based limestone arrowhead and a stone axe; everyday objects that once served the communities who called this borderland home thousands of years ago.