NHER 16167 (Monument record) - Probably post medieval ring ditch and associated features

July 1976. St Joseph air photographs. Lowestoft Road.
Single ring ditch with one and perhaps two smaller ring ditches partially overlaying it.
D. Edwards (NAU), 15 May 1980.

This could be a mill standing from the wide diameter and the thinness of the ditch.
E. Rose, 29 May 1980.

September 2000. Fieldwalking and Metal-detecting Survey and Trial Trenching. Contexts 1 to 236.
Neolithic to Bronze Age flint scatters, ditches, pits and a post hole.
Ring ditch examined.
One area produced Iron Age pottery.
See report (S6) for further details. The results of this work are also summarised in (S8).
The associated archive has been deposited with the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2013.375).
D. Gurney (NLA), 13 December 2000. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 17 May 2019.

March 2002. Excavation.
Excavation of area of cropmark ring ditch. Revealed an insubstantial ring ditch and other features, possibly associated, as well as a linear ditch.
Ring ditch probably of relatively late date. Post medieval clay pipe and sherd of post medieval 'china' from the fill.
See published article (S7) and report (S9) for further details. The results of this work are also sumarised in (S10).
M. Horlock (NLA), 4 November 2002. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 12 March 2015.

Some of the cropmarks previously recorded within this site are now recorded under NHER 45165, 50978 and 50981.

October 2006. Norfolk NMP.
A group of multi-period cropmarks are visible on the aerial photographs within the area of previous archaeological evaluations and excavations (S1-S5). The majority of these features are undated and given the excavation results from this area many of the anomalies visible on the aerial photographs may be of potential natural origin, as were a considerable proportion of those excavated during the evaluation of the site. The aerial photographs reveal numerous cropmarks of geological and natural origin, however a number of possible archaeological features were mapped.

The ring ditch, now interpreted as a possible post medieval mill, is visible at TM 5263 9981 and is 21m in diameter (S3). The relatively broad ditched linear running from TM 5276 9997 to TM 5274 9982 (S5) appears to correspond with the undated ditch recorded within trench 13 during the NAU excavations in 2000. A ditch was recorded on the aerial photographs, running parallel 50m to the west (S1). These ditches have been recorded under NHER 50978. The ditches aligned the same as the surrounding post medieval to modern landscape have been interpreted as being post medieval in date and have been recorded under NHER 45165. One of these appears to match up with the ditch section recorded within trench 7 during the NAU excavations in 2000 and the ditch excavated in 2002.

Amongst the other possible ditches mapped are a series of boundaries that appear to run broadly NE-SW. The majority of these are only visible in 1976 (S3), although they are extremely faint. It may be that ephemeral and extremely shallow features were only producing cropmarks in 1976. It is possible that these relate to late prehistoric or Roman date field system, see NHER 50981 for details, although the evaluation of the area did not reveal evidence to substantiate this interpretation.
S. Massey (NMP), 30 October 2006.

May 2008. Norfolk NMP.
Additional information on the NMP mapping and evaluation trenches. A ditch potentially visible on (S3) was not detected within trench 5, although it is possible that this is due to locational discrepancies between the rectified and surveyed locations. The possible ditches visible on the aerial photographs (S1, S3) intersecting with trench 11 were not detected during the excavations (S6). One ditch to the west of the trench, but not visibly continuing into it, could be a possible continuation of the ‘semi-linear’ feature excavated. This feature contained worked flint, but was not felt to be of entirely of archaeological origin and may have been a natural or glacial linear. These results would again suggest that many of the cropmarks visible on aerial photographs within this area of potentially of natural or glacial origins.
S.Massey (NMP), 28 May 2008.

March 2023. Assessment of the Character and Significance of East Anglian Field Systems project.
The site described above was included in the dataset analysed for the Historic England-funded Assessment of East Anglian Field Systems project. See the project report (S11) for further details.
S. Tremlett (Norfolk County Council Environment Team), 22 March 2023.