Cowdray Heritage Trust was granted Scheduled Monument Consent (SMC) to excavate a drainage trench from the door of the kitchen tower at the Cowdray Ruins (SAM no: 29300) to the exterior of the ruins, through the kitchen court. The kitchen tower is situated at the south-east corner of the quadrangular Tudor mansion. One of the conditions of this SMC was for an archaeological watching brief to be maintained on the associated groundworks. West Sussex Archaeology Limited was appointed by Cowdray Heritage Trust to carry out this work. The watching brief took place on the 11th May 2011. Traces of a demolished part of the tower's Tudor foundations were revealed, together with that of the kitchen court wall, as well as Tudor and later culverts.