NHER 12179 (Cropmark and Earthwork record) - Site of probable Bronze Age round barrow

THE PARALLEL LINEAR CROPMARKS DESCRIBED BELOW ARE NOW RECORDED AS PART OF NHER 27263.

17 July 1979, 29 July 1986. 12 July 1990. NAU air photography.
Cropmarks.
One ring ditch and two parallel linear cropmarks.
D. Edwards (NAU) 15 February 1981.

Originally marked up from St Joseph's air photographs list, grid reference now corrected.
E. Rose (NAU) 21 October 1981.

December 2005. Norfolk NMP.
NMP mapping has led to the alteration of the central grid reference of the site from TG 489 151 to TG 4897 1514. The linear cropmarks described above are now recorded as NHER 27263.

The ring ditch described above is visible as a cropmark on aerial photographs (S1)-(S2), centred at TG 4897 1514. It is most likely to represent the remains of a prehistoric burial mound, one of several to be identified in the area. Its circular shape and relatively small size (compared to NHER 42237, for example) indicates that it probably dates to the Bronze Age. It is passed on its northwest side by a linear ditch (part of NHER 27263) which has been interpreted as part of a complex of medieval to post medieval field boundaries and trackways. The fact that the ditch appears to respect the barrow site suggests that the latter still survived as an earthwork when the field boundaries were laid out.

The ring ditch is roughly circular in shape and measures approximately 14.5m in diameter. A break in the ditch on its north side is as likely to be caused by the cropmark being obscured as by the presence of a genuine causeway. Possible internal pits are visible towards the eastern side of the ring ditch but these are indistinguishable from geological cropmarks and consequently have not been mapped.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 20 December 2005.