The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 15 letter word PAY-AND-DISPLAY
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
P
A
Y
-
A
N
D
-
D
I
S
P
L
A
Y
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Where estate maybe would show evidence of early settlement" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case where estate maybe would show evidence of early settlement = pay-and-display.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.
What does PAY-AND-DISPLAY mean?
PAY-AND-DISPLAY adjective- Describing a car park in which the motorist obtains a ticket (for a specified period) from a coin-operated machine and displays it in the car so it can be checked by a parking attendant.