The primary development site is presently in use as a children’s play area located within Rufford Abbey Country Park and is situated to the east of the abbey buildings and formal landscaped garden, towards the eastern edge of the country park. The site is bounded to the east by a small stream fed by Rufford Lake further to the north, to the west by the formal abbey gardens, and to the north and south by woodland areas. The cable trenches at the Rufford Mill site are located along the northern verge of Rufford Lane and extend southwards through the Rufford Mill grounds, to the west of the Mill. The watching brief comprised the observation by a competent archaeologist of all intrusive groundworks associated with the proposed development. These works included the following: - Rufford Mill area: three cable trenches (0.4m wide by 0.6m deep on average) - Rufford Abbey Play area: twenty test pits. One machine excavated test pit (square pit, 1.7m by 1.7m) and nineteen hand-excavated test pits (irregular pits, between 0.3m by 0.3m and 0.8m by 0.6m) The watching brief identified no archaeological features or deposits and no artefacts of archaeological interest within the two areas of observed groundworks. In the Rufford Mill area, fieldwork recorded evidence of deep, modern disturbance related to the construction of an extensive hardstanding surface adjacent to the Rufford Mill complex. The miscellaneous post-medieval/modern material recovered from the made ground deposit cannot be associated to any specific activity in the area and, as such, its archaeological significance in very limited. The modern development of the Rufford Mill area would have removed any archaeological features/deposits within the site, had they been present. The Rufford Abbey Play area may also have been affected by previous development activities undertaken in 2007, comprising the installation of the play area and associated landscaping. It is suggested that archaeological remains associated with Rufford Abbey either did not extend this far west, were not exposed by the limited extent of the groundworks or had been removed during previous development of the site.