NHER 12986 (Cropmark and Earthwork record) - Possible site of Southwood deserted medieval village and cropmarks of multi-period features

17 June 1976. NAU aerial photographs (S1).
Cropmarks of linear or rectangular features, some turning right angles, in amorphous pattern. Southwood deserted medieval village?
E. Rose (NAU), 3 January 1978.

June 2007. Norfolk NMP.
The multi-period cropmarks of undated enclosures and trackways are visible on aerial photographs to the east of Southwood Hall (S1-S3). Some of these trackways and enclosures may originally have formed part of an extensive Roman landscape (NHER 6096), potentially continuing in use to the medieval to post medieval period. This is also said to be the location of the Southwood deserted medieval settlement.

The clearest component of the site is a series of elongated rectilinear enclosures abutting a trackway. These follow the same alignment as the post medieval landscape and therefore may be medieval to post medieval in date. These would appear to be agricultural enclosures, although it is possible, as suggested above, that they relate a medieval settlement at this site. However it must also be noted that the trackway follows the same alignment as the large trackway system (NHER 6096) running across this area that it thought to be Roman in origin. This system of tracks continues to the southeast (NHER 11841) and this would suggest that this trackway, previously thought to be medieval, may form part of this earlier planned landsape. Some elements of these large areas of fields and tracks appear to stay in use, possibly until the post medieval period, see NHER 6096 for discussion, and therefore the actual dating of individual components is extremely hard from aerial photographic evidence alone.

Underlying these more regular and parallel boundaries are a series of more fragmentary and ephemeral cropmarks, possibly representing former rectilinear enclosures and fields, in particular at TG 3937 0560 and TG 3930 0524. The date of these enclosures is not certain, although a late prehistoric date seems most likely. They exhibit no obvious sign of being related to the Roman landscape recorded to the north (NHER 6096).
S. Massey (NMP), 28 June 2007.