The site is located to the south of Fernwood on the southeast side of Newark on Trent, to the east of the B6326 (former Great North road). It is bounded by Hollowdyke Lane to the north, the Shire Dyke (the current Nottinghamshire-Lincolnshire county boundary) to the east, and by agricultural land to the south. The site covered an area of approximately 20.3 hectares. All 46 trial trenches were excavated under archaeological supervision using a 360 mechanical excavator fitted with a toothless ditching bucket. Deposits were removed in spits to the top of the first significant archaeological horizon or the clearly defined top of the natural sub-stratum, whichever was reached first. All potential archaeological features were identified and marked at the time of machine clearance of overburden. During the evaluation, the remains of several ditches and pits of Middle Iron Age date and remnants of a possible Iron Age roundhouse were revealed in the central and western parts of the site. Several undated ditches and pits were also examined and recorded; these were found in the same area as the Iron Age features and possibly date to the same period. Furrows were present across the site, indicating agricultural usage of the land during the medieval or post-medieval periods. An area of modern disturbance, including building remains, was observed in the easternmost part of the site. Finds recovered during the evaluation included several residual worked flints, indicating prehistoric activity in the area; these included an unusual chopping tool of possible early prehistoric date.