The Potwell Dyke Flood Alleviation Scheme works area overlies the south edge of the Minster and Prebendage Character Area of the Southwell Conservation Area. It consists of an irregular plot bounded by the Bishop’s Manor and the Scheduled Ancient Monument of the former Archbishop’s Palace to the west, the Scheduled Ancient Monument of a known Roman building to the north-west. The current works area is within the north-east corner of the flood alleviation zone, and lies within the Conservation Area. It forms part of an area of grassland which is required to remain open as part of the settings of the Minster and the Bishop’s Palace. At the time the evaluation took place, the grass on site was long apart from mown paths along the routes of public rights of way across the site. The evaluation consisted of four trial trenches each measuring 10m x 2m. The trenches were originally positioned at locations along the intended bund line to target responses recorded by the GPR survey. The results of the evaluation suggest that the archaeological potential of the site is relatively low. The variation in natural deposits across the site indicates that the Potwell Dyke once ran across its west side, either as an earlier course, since diverted, or as a broader floodplain now narrowed by management of the channel and drainage of the surrounding land: evidence that the Potwell Dyke valley was occupied by more than one watercourse, either as tributaries or variant channels of the Potwell Dyke, was exposed during archaeological work at Platts Orchard, on the opposite bank of the modern course of the Potwell Dyke to the north of the present site. A discovered ditchis likely to be a water management feature, probably joining the Potwell Dyke at an oblique angle to the south-west of the present site: its dating may be ambiguous, as the Platts Orchard ‘channel’ appeared to have had a very long lifespan, beginning as a natural feature, being adapted into a managed watercourse during the Roman period, reopened during the Middle Ages after a period of disuse, and possibly remaining at least partly functional until the 17th century (ibid.). The interpretation of the single bone found in the final fill of the ditch as post-medieval may suggest that this ditch was also filled in relatively recently, although the site recording noted that it was possible that both finds were intrusive from the overlying layer; its identification as being from a carriage horse – a relatively small and slight horse, probably of graceful appearance, but used for traction – reflects the high social status of the inhabitants of the neighbourhood in the later post-medieval period. The fragment of CBM, suggestive of although not confidently identifiable as a piece of re-used Roman tile, can only be taken as a broad indication of Roman activity in the vicinity of the site, possibly over a sufficiently long period for a building to be constructed, used and demolished and its rubble to be re-used. The environmental sample from one of the ditch fills is indicative of a marginal aquatic and transitional grassland and scrub environment, with no indication that it bordered cultivated land. Apart from the evidence of ditch for water management and land drainage in the area, however, there is no indication that the site was occupied at any period.