NHER 11858 (Monument record) - Cropmarks of rectilinear enclosures, field boundaries and trackways of unknown, but probable Roman date

Irregular enclosure cropmarks with smaller rectangles inside them, lying askew across field boundary.
Air photographs checked by E. Rose (NAU) 30 November 1976.

This site has been extended and the central grid reference of this site has been altered from TG 3762 1221 to TG 3750 1215.

May 2007. Norfolk NMP.
Cropmarks of rectilinear enclosures, field boundaries and trackways of unknown, but probable Roman date are visible on aerial photographs to the west of County Farm, South Walsham (S1-S5). The site is centred on TG 3750 1215. A Roman coin has been recovered from within the general vicinity of these cropmarks (NHER 39988), to the north (NHER 39925, 36546) and to the east (NHER 8506, 8514). It is probable that the main phase of these cropmarks is broadly Roman in date, although the site is likely to represent more than one phase, possibly late prehistoric or Iron Age in origin.
The main component of the site is an elongated enclosure, aligned NW-SE and NE-SW, centred on TG 3765 1221, measuring 160m by 40m, although it must be noted that the central section of this enclosure cannot be seen and it is possible that the two sides of the enclosure may not be continuous. The southern boundary of the enclosure appears to be quite curvilinear when compared with the rest of the site. It is possible that this boundary was following an earlier feature. Both the northern and southern sides of the enclosure appear to be bordered by trackways.
To the north of this is another rectilinear enclosure, 60m across, which was constructed on a slightly different alignment and therefore possibly representing a different phase of enclosure. However the two enclosures appear to possibly be linked by a trackway that leads to the northeastern corner of the main enclosure, suggesting that in fact that both enclosures were contemporaneous or at least parts of an earlier phase become incorporated into a later one.
The remainder of the site consists of fragmentary and dispersed field boundaries and trackways that follow either the alignment of the main enclosure or the northern rectilinear enclosure.
Some of these boundaries follow the same alignment (broadly NW-SE and NE-SW) as a large area of enclosures and fields (NHER 49428) to the west and NHER 49468 to the north and these both have the appearance of small settlements. Other groups of ditches following this pattern have tentatively been identified across a wide area (NHER 49427, 49431, 49440), suggesting a once extensive agricultural landscape spreading for several kilometres.
S. Massey (NMP), 23 May 2007.