All the stratified finds pre-dating the Iron Age in the first area of the excavation came from elements of a pit alignment which ran northwards for approximately 70m from the southern edge of the excavation area. 26 pits were exposed in the first excavation area, with alternate pits being excavated in half-section on alternating north-to-south and eastto-west alignments; at the end of the site work, a machine trench was opened to the south of the excavation area to ascertain whether the alignment continued, and five further pits were exposed, but were not excavated or recorded. One partially exposed pit in one evaluation trench was on the projected line of the pit alignment and might also have been part of it, suggesting a possible length of at least 85m.

The pit alignment was markedly different from the pit alignments discovered in Phases 1, 2 and 3 of the Fairham Pastures project. The pit spacing, generally between 2m and 3m from centre to centre of adjacent pits (so that the edges of larger pits were closer together than those of smaller pits), was broadly similar to that of the pit alignment in Phase 2, while the pits in the other alignments were more closely spaced. However, the pits themselves were much larger: the smallest discrete pit in this alignment (excluding the three intercutting pits near the centre of the row), at 1.36m x 1.22m in plan, approached or exceeded the largest recorded breadth or diameter for pits in three Phase 1 alignments, Phase 2 alignment and Phase 3 alignment, while the largest pit in this alignment, at 2.87m x 2.80m, was more than 1m broader than even the greatest breadth or diameter recorded in another Phase 1 alignment (MNT28912) and Phase 3 alignment. (Pit depths showed wide variation across all alignments, with maxima between 0.72m and 0.25m and minima between 0.34m and 0.10m, and were probably individually dictated by the local depth and nature of the drift geology.)

The pit fills in this alignment were also atypical: multiple fills – usually two – were more common than single fills in the excavated pits, while multiple fills were rare or completely absent in almost all the other Fairham Pastures pit alignments, with only the pits of one of the Phase 1 alignment frequently containing more than one fill, often with evidence of recutting.

The pits making up the alignment were for the most part oval, sub-oval or sub-circular: the largest pit measured 2.87m x 2.80m in plan and another pit was the deepest at 0.72m, while the smallest discrete pit was 1.36m x 1.22m in plan and 0.34m deep. There was no consistency in profile form, and many pits had irregular profiles which, with the presence of multiple fills, some of which appeared to be occupying recuts, suggested that the pits had been intended to remain open and had been maintained, with naturally accumulating infill being cleared out or completely silted-up pits being recut. One pit near the centre of the exposed portion of the alignment, was unusual in that it was intersected by two smaller pits, one on either side on the line of the alignment. Its relationship with the smaller pit to the south was unclear as the area of intersection was vey small – the 'main' pit was thought to cut the smaller pit, but the interpretation was speculative – but the smaller pit to the north could be identified as cutting the ‘main’ pit.

The most unusual aspect of the pit alignment was its finds assemblage. Finds were rare in or absent from all the other Fairham Pastures pit alignments. In contrast, seven of the fourteen pits excavated in the alignment contained finds, all of which were of prehistoric or earlier prehistoric date. Finds were retrieved from a single stretch of the pit alignment whose ends were represented by the sixth pit from the northern end of the alignment, and the ninth pit from the southern site boundary. The more accurately datable finds were a fragment of Mesolithic to early Neolithic flint knife from the basal fill of one pit; a flint flake, possibly Neolithic, with two sherds of earlier prehistoric pottery, possibly Bronze Age, in the upper fill or unrecorded recut of a second pit, and a flint blade fragment of possible Neolithic date, with two flint flakes that could only be identified as prehistoric, from the single fill of a further pit. Six sherds of prehistoric pottery were also retrieved from the upper fill or unrecorded recut of another pit, and five sherds, with a flint flake that could also only be identified as prehistoric, from latest fill in a further pit which may also have been a recut.

Two of the three intercutting pits also produced finds datable only as prehistoric or early prehistoric: eight sherds of pottery were retrieved from the single fill of the ‘main’ pit intersected by two smaller pits, while the smaller pit, speculatively identified as stratigraphically earlier, produced one sherd of pottery with an early prehistoric blade-like flint flake.

R. D. Savage and L. Brocklehurst, 2025, Phase 5 Works at Fairham Pastures, Land East of Nottingham Road, Clifton, Rushcliffe, Nottinghamshire: Scheme of Archaeological Mitigation (Evaluation and Targeted Excavation) Combined Report (Unpublished document). SNT6071.