diff --git a/tests/debug/Test_padded_cell.cc b/tests/debug/Test_padded_cell.cc
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c6c77bc8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/debug/Test_padded_cell.cc
@@ -0,0 +1,186 @@
+    /*************************************************************************************
+
+    Grid physics library, www.github.com/paboyle/Grid 
+
+    Source file: ./tests/Test_padded_cell.cc
+
+    Copyright (C) 2015
+
+Author: Peter Boyle <paboyle@ph.ed.ac.uk>
+
+    This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+    it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+    the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
+    (at your option) any later version.
+
+    This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+    but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+    MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+    GNU General Public License for more details.
+
+    You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along
+    with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
+    51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.
+
+    See the full license in the file "LICENSE" in the top level distribution directory
+    *************************************************************************************/
+    /*  END LEGAL */
+#include <Grid/Grid.h>
+#include <Grid/lattice/PaddedCell.h>
+#include <Grid/stencil/GeneralLocalStencil.h>
+
+using namespace std;
+using namespace Grid;
+
+template<class vobj> void gpermute(vobj & inout,int perm){
+  vobj tmp=inout;
+  if (perm & 0x1 ) { permute(inout,tmp,0); tmp=inout;}
+  if (perm & 0x2 ) { permute(inout,tmp,1); tmp=inout;}
+  if (perm & 0x4 ) { permute(inout,tmp,2); tmp=inout;}
+  if (perm & 0x8 ) { permute(inout,tmp,3); tmp=inout;}
+}
+  
+int main (int argc, char ** argv)
+{
+  Grid_init(&argc,&argv);
+
+  Coordinate latt_size  = GridDefaultLatt();
+  Coordinate simd_layout= GridDefaultSimd(Nd,vComplexD::Nsimd());
+  Coordinate mpi_layout = GridDefaultMpi();
+  std::cout << " mpi "<<mpi_layout<<std::endl;
+  std::cout << " simd "<<simd_layout<<std::endl;
+  std::cout << " latt "<<latt_size<<std::endl;
+  GridCartesian GRID(latt_size,simd_layout,mpi_layout);
+
+  GridParallelRNG   pRNG(&GRID);
+  pRNG.SeedFixedIntegers(std::vector<int>({45,12,81,9}));
+  LatticeGaugeField Umu(&GRID);
+
+  SU<Nc>::HotConfiguration(pRNG,Umu);
+
+  Real plaq=WilsonLoops<PeriodicGimplR>::avgPlaquette(Umu);
+  LatticeComplex trplaq(&GRID);
+
+  std::vector<LatticeColourMatrix> U(Nd, Umu.Grid());
+  for (int mu = 0; mu < Nd; mu++) {
+    U[mu] = PeekIndex<LorentzIndex>(Umu, mu);
+  }
+  WilsonLoops<PeriodicGimplR>::traceDirPlaquette(trplaq,U,0,1);
+
+  std::cout << GridLogMessage << " Average plaquette "<<plaq<<std::endl;
+
+  LatticeComplex cplaq(&GRID); cplaq=Zero();
+
+  /////////////////////////////////////////////////
+  // Create a padded cell of extra padding depth=1
+  /////////////////////////////////////////////////
+  int depth = 1;
+  PaddedCell Ghost(depth,&GRID);
+  LatticeGaugeField Ughost = Ghost.Exchange(Umu);
+
+  ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+  // Temporary debug Hack for single rank sim:
+  // Check the contents of the cell are periodcally replicated
+  // In future ONLY pad those dimensions that are not local to node
+  ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+#if 0
+  {
+    double diff=0;
+    double n=0;
+  {
+    autoView( Ug_v , Ughost, CpuRead);
+    autoView( Ul_v , Umu   , CpuRead);
+  for(int x=0;x<latt_size[0]+2;x++){
+  for(int y=0;y<latt_size[1]+2;y++){
+  for(int z=0;z<latt_size[2]+2;z++){
+  for(int t=0;t<latt_size[3]+2;t++){
+    int lx=(x-1+latt_size[0])%latt_size[0];
+    int ly=(y-1+latt_size[1])%latt_size[1];
+    int lz=(z-1+latt_size[2])%latt_size[2];
+    int lt=(t-1+latt_size[3])%latt_size[3];
+    Coordinate gcoor({x,y,z,t});
+    Coordinate lcoor({lx,ly,lz,lt});
+    LorentzColourMatrix g;
+    LorentzColourMatrix l;
+    peekLocalSite(g,Ug_v,gcoor);
+    peekLocalSite(l,Ul_v,lcoor);
+    g=g-l;
+    assert(norm2(g)==0);
+    diff = diff + norm2(g);
+    n = n + norm2(l);
+  }}}}
+  }
+  std::cout << "padded field check diff "<< diff <<" / "<< n<<std::endl;
+  std::cout << norm2(Ughost)<< " " << norm2(Umu)<<std::endl;
+  }
+#endif
+
+  ///// Array for the site plaquette
+  GridBase *GhostGrid = Ughost.Grid();
+  LatticeComplex gplaq(GhostGrid); 
+  
+  for(int mu=0;mu<Nd;mu++){
+    for(int nu=mu+1;nu<Nd;nu++){
+  
+      std::vector<Coordinate> shifts;
+      //    Umu(x) Unu(x+mu) Umu^dag(x+nu) Unu^dag(x)
+      Coordinate shift_0(Nd,0);
+      Coordinate shift_mu(Nd,0); shift_mu[mu]=1;
+      Coordinate shift_nu(Nd,0); shift_nu[nu]=1;
+      shifts.push_back(shift_0);
+      shifts.push_back(shift_mu);
+      shifts.push_back(shift_nu);
+      shifts.push_back(shift_0);
+      GeneralLocalStencil gStencil(GhostGrid,shifts);
+
+      gplaq=Zero();
+      WilsonLoops<PeriodicGimplR>::traceDirPlaquette(trplaq,U,mu,nu);
+
+      {
+	autoView( gp_v , gplaq, CpuWrite);
+	autoView( t_v , trplaq, CpuRead);
+	autoView( U_v , Ughost, CpuRead);
+	for(int ss=0;ss<gp_v.size();ss++){
+	  auto SE0 = gStencil.GetEntry(0,ss);
+	  auto SE1 = gStencil.GetEntry(1,ss);
+	  auto SE2 = gStencil.GetEntry(2,ss);
+	  auto SE3 = gStencil.GetEntry(3,ss);
+	  
+	  int o0 = SE0->_offset;
+	  int o1 = SE1->_offset;
+	  int o2 = SE2->_offset;
+	  int o3 = SE3->_offset;
+
+	  auto U0 = U_v[o0](mu);
+	  auto U1 = U_v[o1](nu);
+	  auto U2 = adj(U_v[o2](mu));
+	  auto U3 = adj(U_v[o3](nu));
+
+	  gpermute(U0,SE0->_permute);
+	  gpermute(U1,SE1->_permute);
+	  gpermute(U2,SE2->_permute);
+	  gpermute(U3,SE3->_permute);
+
+	  gp_v[ss]() = trace( U0*U1*U2*U3 );
+	  
+	}
+      }
+      cplaq = Ghost.Extract(gplaq);
+      std::cout << "["<<mu<<"]["<<nu<<"] cplaq = "<< norm2(cplaq)<<std::endl;
+      std::cout << "["<<mu<<"]["<<nu<<"] trplaq= "<< norm2(trplaq)<<std::endl;
+      //      std::cout << " cplaq " <<cplaq<<std::endl;
+      //      std::cout << " ref   " <<trplaq<<std::endl;
+      trplaq = cplaq - trplaq;
+      //      std::cout << "["<<mu<<"]["<<nu<<"] diff= "<< trplaq<<std::endl;
+      std::cout << "["<<mu<<"]["<<nu<<"] diff = "<< norm2(trplaq)<<std::endl;
+    }}
+
+  RealD vol = cplaq.Grid()->gSites();
+  RealD faces = (Nd * (Nd-1))/2;
+  auto p = TensorRemove(sum(cplaq));
+  auto result = p.real()/vol/faces/Nc;
+
+  std::cout << GridLogMessage << " Average plaquette via padded cell "<<result<<std::endl;
+  
+  Grid_finalize();
+}