An archaeological evaluation was undertaken on a 22-hectare parcel of land lying off Barton Lane, Ratcliffe-on-Soar, Nottinghamshire. Thirty-three 50 x 2 m trenches were excavated, with many positioned to investigate anomalies detected by an earlier geophysical survey. The trenching was undertaken in association with proposals to extract gypsum from the site. The archaeological works reported here constitute phase 1 of a two-phase approach, with a single trench and an area of 5.7 ha to be monitored in phase 2. Three of the trenches contained archaeological remains; these comprised three undated ditches forming elements within a field system discernible within the geophysical survey results. The only finds from the evaluation derived from two of these ditches and comprise animal bones (cow and sheep/goat). As the features were undated, no environmental samples were taken. Although it is not possible to confidently place such undated features within a wider historical and archaeological context, they resemble field boundaries relating to enclosure systems of Late Iron Age or Romano-British date of the type commonly encountered in this part of the Middle Trent Valley. There was a generally low level of correspondence between the results of the geophysical survey and the evaluation trenching. This has been attributed to the uncertain character of many of the anomalies, plough truncation and/or working conditions.