An archaeological watching brief was undertaken during the groundworks for a development of eight houses on land off Willow Drive, North Muskham, Nottinghamshire. The development site lies near the centre of the village, and 220m from the modern west bank of the River Trent. A previous geophysical survey observed marked striations running roughly east-west across the site: these were initially interpreted as the sub-surface remnants of medieval ridge-and-furrow ploughing. The excavation of house plots at the eastern and western ends of the site showed the geophysical anomalies to be caused by natural irregularities in the water-lain geological gravels, and the watching brief was discontinued.