Later Iron Age to early Roman-dated features were found in the south-eastern corner of the excavation area, either forming or lying within the southern and western sides of the roughly D-shaped enclosure; the eastern side could not be shown to have Late Iron Age-Early Roman or Mid-Roman antecedents, and the northern side has been separately grouped. This feature complex, as exposed in plan, consisted of an enclosure estimated at roughly 40m square, with a convex western side – although its size and form had probably varied over time – containing a number of individual pits or clusters of pits, some intercutting. Late Iron Age-Early Roman dates were retrieved from four of these, all within the southern half of the enclosure, with possible contemporary dates suggested by environmental samples from three others. No artefacts dating to this period were found in any other part of the excavation area.

The enclosure appears to have had a long lifespan and to have been frequently remodelled, with four or five cuts being identified at its south side and south-west corner. This part of the site had been heavily truncated above: not all of the elements of the enclosure survived around its full circuit, and surviving elements were generally shallow. The earliest date from any of the enclosure ditches came from two sherds of late 1st- to early 2nd-century pottery from one fill of a section, the innermost of four intersecting cuts exposed in an excavated section across the centre of the south side. The stratigraphic sequence could not be fully ascertained in this section, as the latest of the cuts had removed the stratigraphic relationship between the fill containing the pottery and the two cuts further to the south; another section on the outside of the sequence, which certainly pre-dated two of the other ditches, produced potsherds that could only be identified as broadly Roman in date. All four of the intercutting ditches of the south side had eastern terminals at approximately the same point, indicating that the enclosure had featured an entrance at the south-eastern corner throughout its period of use. The only other datable finds assemblage from this portion of the enclosure came from the fill of a terminal section, the second cut from the south side in a section across the eastern terminals, which produced a substantial assemblage of 54 sherds of late 1st- to early 2nd-century pottery.

The stratigraphic sequence of the four ditches did not fully survive, and it can only be ascertained that the latest cut in the sequence, an unrecorded recut, appeared to cut an innermost ditch and a datable ditch; an outermost ditch was more heavily truncated and no relationship survived.

At the south-western corner of the enclosure, the sequential ditch cuts had spread so widely and the ground surface had been so heavily truncated that the features had been reduced to little more than bases with the lower breaks of slope and no stratigraphic relationships survived at all; no finds were retrieved from any of the sections at this corner. The curving western side of the ditch had been repeatedly renewed along different lines: five cuts were identified, but none of the earlier cuts could be traced past the middle of the western side. Again, no accurately datable finds were retrieved, although some sherds of pottery could be identified as generally Roman in date, but some speculative stratigraphic dating was possible on this side. The outermost and innermost cuts appeared to be the oldest: the outermost cut ran wide of the others for some 23m, curving back to a tapering but distinct terminal, 0.75m wide and 0.14m deep, at the excavated section which may have formed part of a western entrance to the earliest layout of the enclosure. This cut could be seen on the exposed surface after machining to cut the fill of a pit, one of the largest pits in Phase 1 pit alignment (MNT28951).

An undated oval pit recorded near a ditch section was as heavily truncated as the enclosure ditches near it, measuring 0.90m x 0.65m in plan but only 0.12m deep: its proportions differed enough from those of the pits in alignment (MNT28951) that it is unlikely to have been an outlying element of the pit alignment, suggesting that it may have been contemporary with an enclosure ditch, possibly marking one side of the enclosure entrance. There is no surviving evidence for an opposite terminal in any of the phases of northern side that appear to feature a western entrance: the shallowness of the surviving features on the north-western and western sides of the enclosure, with the absence of finds of this period in the northern half of the enclosure, may suggest that the remains of the early enclosure have been obliterated in this area by truncation of the ground surface by ploughing. There was also no section that could confidently be identified as the early eastern side of the enclosure: it may have been destroyed by recutting on the same line, or have lain outside the excavated area.

Internal features were more frequent in the southern half of the enclosure, and all four of the features with late Iron Age to early Roman dates, as well as three of those in which environmental sampling suggested a late Iron Age-Early Roman date, were in this area. The most significant of these was a kiln or oven situated to the south of the enclosure centre and oriented east to west. Due to its tapering plan and section forms, this feature was thought on excavation to consist of three intercutting pits of different sizes, but was later identified as a single feature with the elongated pear- or spoon-shape typical of late Iron Age and Roman kilns, consisting of a circular firing chamber attached to a straight flue: one or more shallower depressions, used for firing the kiln and/or created by raking out the ashes, are frequently present at the opposite end of the flue but have not survived here. The kiln was 2.5m long and 1.0m wide across the bowlshaped firing chamber, tapering to 0.60m wide across the flue, and contained two fills: the lower fill had inclusions of heat-reddened clay, probably debris from the collapse of a clay oven structure, while upper fill produced five sherds of late Iron Age to Roman pottery. As this feature was not recognised as a kiln on site, no environmental samples were taken, but environmental evidence was retrieved from another otherwise undated kiln or oven at the eastern side of the enclosure.

This other kiln was smaller but better-preserved than kiln situated to the south of the enclosure: it was only 1.80m long and no more than 0.40m wide, but appeared to be complete in plan form, with a small firing chamber, almost square but with rounded corners, at the eastern end, connected by a short flue to a shallower, more irregular stoking/rake-out pit to west. Part of the flue structure, a lining of stone slabs standing on edge against its vertical sides, remained in situ: both the stones and the flue base were heat-affected. Although no finds were retrieved from either of its two fills, an environmental sample from a charcoal-rich fill within the eastern end of the flue, produced low levels of charred cereal grains including some identifiable as emmer and spelt wheat, suggesting an Iron Age date.

The putative entrance in the south eastern corner of the enclosure was approximately 4m wide as exposed: a pit was located about 5m within the entrance, to the east of centre. This pit was recorded as being recut, with a shallower pit with a much darker, charcoal-rich fill having removed all but its western edge. However, the presence of several large stones within the edge of a possible recut which appear to have been vertically placed, raises the possibility that they may have been positioned as packing to support a post, with the possible recut representing the location of the post-pipe. An environmental sample from the dark upper fill was exceptionally productive, with quantities of charred cereal remains including emmer wheat, spelt wheat, barley, oats and bread wheat: this was thought to represent waste material from a corn-drying oven or other crop processing or cooking activities. Although the pit or pits were too heavily disturbed to be certain of an original plan form, there is some indication that it was rectangular and larger than the originally measured size of 0.80m x 0.75m, and the possibility cannot be ruled out that this feature was itself the remains of a demolished corn-drying oven, with only one or two stones remaining of its structure.

An elongated pit was one of a cluster of variously-shaped features to the south of the enclosure centre, separated from the kiln situated to the south of the enclsure by a very shallow feature. The purpose of this feature remains uncertain, as neither its form nor the finds assemblage suggested any association with a kiln or other industrial or domestic structure: it was some 4m long but only 0.60m wide and 0.40m deep, with a V-shaped profile, while the excavated end rose in a long, shallow slope to a squared-off terminal. Its fill contained heat-affected stones and small lenses of fired clay, as well as nine sherds from the same late Iron Age to early Roman ceramic jar; two charred cereal grains, one identifiable as spelt wheat, with a low number of seeds from common grassland or field-edge plants were retrieved from an environmental sample, suggesting incidental deposition from crop processing or domestic activities nearby. The shallow feature was also anomalous, as it measured 6.10m x 1.70m in plan, oriented roughly north-to-south, but was no more than 0.15m deep. It most closely resembled a short length of medieval furrow, as it consisted only of a truncated base so irregular as to appear ridged, with both ends petering out rather than terminating, but its orientation was not compatible with any of the furrows recorded on this project. Two sherds from the same 1st- to early 2nd-century vessel were retrieved from its fill.

While the D-shaped enclosure must have remained in use during the mid-Roman period, as both ditch sections and interior features produced dates bracketing it, no element of the ditch sequence could definitely be identified as mid-Roman: with the exception of the single large mid-Roman assemblage from one of the terminals of the south-eastern entrance, dating evidence was scanty across all phases and elements of the enclosure. Two sherds of grey ware that could only be broadly dated to the Roman period were retrieved from the fill of a ditch section in the centre of the western side of the enclosure, and since this ditch was thought to cut one of the late Iron Age-early Roman elements, an innermost ditch, it is possible that it represents the mid-Roman usage.

The D-shaped enclosure appears to have been incorporated into the rectilinear field pattern during the mid-Roman phase by the excavation of a length of a connecting ditch (MNT28954), although the combination of ambiguous dating evidence and the repeated recutting and subsequent truncation of features made the stratigraphic sequence difficult to read. The connecting ditch ran north to south for some 65m, connecting the angle of a major ditch (MNT28952) with the northern edge of enclosure near the point at which this ceased to be visible.

The latest identifiable cut of the D-shaped enclosure appeared to cut the exposed portion of a section of the connecting ditch, which seems most likely to have corresponded to the earlier larger ditch (MNT28954), with the much shallower recut not having survived in this area; the irregular depth of D-shaped enclosure section may suggest that the intersection had been remodelled at least once.

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.