NHER 12238 (Monument record) - Possible medieval dam and drainage ditches

April 1977. Fieldwalking.
A trapezoidal cropmark with one side defined by a stream was identified in aerial photographs along with other possible earthworks in the surrounding area. The trapezoidal cropmark may be a moat. Fieldwalking in the area did not identify any trace of the moat in the rough pasture. The higher areas of cropmarks are now cultivated. The edges of the field to the northwest produced medieval sherds, peg roof tiles of possible medieval date, and brick fragments with glazed headers which may be post medieval in date. The track marked on the Ordnance Survey map (S1) is a causeway.
A. Rogerson (NAU), 15 April 1977.

November 2007. Norfolk NMP.
Earthworks of a possible dam or causeway and drainage ditches of medieval to post medieval date are visible on aerial photographs (S2-S4). A group of earthwork ditches are arranged perpendicular and parallel to a natural watercourse that runs from the southeast to northwest. Although they appear to form a series of small rectangular enclosures, one of which has previously been interpreted as a moat, it is likely that they primarily served a drainage function. Arranged perpendicular to the watercourse in the centre of this site is a low earthwork bank measuring up to 8m wide. This feature extends for 28m to the northeast of the stream and 54m to its southwest and it is likely that it is a small dam. A rectangular pond is present on the southeast (upstream) side of the bank (S4) but this appears to be a late 20th century addition. Although small and with a relatively limited area draining towards it, it is possible that this dam relates to a medieval watermill. A watermill was recorded at Hoe in the Domesday Book (S5). Alternatively the dam may relate to some other form of medieval to post medieval water management activity. An alternative interpretation of the bank as a causeway seems unlikely as the scale of the earthwork appears to be out of proportion with the stream that it crosses. However, a footpath is shown crossing the bank on the first edition 6 inch to the mile Ordnance Survey map (S1). By 1995 the northeastern part of the earthwork bank had been partly destroyed by the development of an adjacent plant nursery (S4).
J. Albone (NMP), 16 November 2007.