NHER 16733 (Cropmark and Earthwork record) - Site of probable Bronze Age round barrow

30 July 1977. NAU air photographs (S1).
Cropmark of incomplete ring ditch approximately 30m diameter.
J. Bown (NAU) 13 November 1980.

15 July 1996. NLA air photography (S2)-(S3).
Cropmark of ring ditch still visible, has a wide causeway to the east, giving it a penannular shape.
S. Massey (NLA), 15 October 2001.

November 2006. Norfolk NMP.
NMP mapping has led to the alteration of the central grid reference of the site from TG 3074 2963 to TG 3076 2964.

The ring ditch described above is visible as a cropmark on aerial photographs (S1)-(S4). Given its morphology, its apparent isolation from any settlement, and its topographic location on a spur of land overlooking a major watercourse, it seems almost certain that it represents a Bronze Age round barrow or similar prehistoric funerary monument. It may have been sited deliberately beside a possible palaeochannel, also visible as a cropmark to its southwest (but not mapped by the NMP). The relationship of the ring ditch with the multi-period linear cropmarks that surround it (NHER 45235) is unclear; it appears to be partially respected by a ditch that passes along its north side.

The ring ditch is approximately circular in plan with a diameter of around 26.5m. It appears to have been remodelled at some stage during its lifespan. A substantial ditch seems to have defined a feature which was open on its east side (and perhaps had slightly swollen termini), but a narrower ditch visible on the aerial photographs taken in 1976 (S4) suggests that at some point the circuit was virtually (perhaps entirely) complete. Slight traces of a second, inner ditch are visible towards its north side. Pit-like cropmarks, two external and one internal, may be associated pits (containing burials?) or post holes, as they seem to respect the plan and orientation of the open-ended ring ditch. It should be noted, however, that large numbers of such marks, most presumably of geological origin, are visible across this area and the archaeological significance of the mapped examples is uncertain. A fourth, elongated pit, visible within the ring ditch, towards its north side, has been recorded as part of the ditch with which it is aligned, itself part of NHER 45235.

It should be noted that the oblique photographs of the site (S1)-(S3) were difficult to rectify, and that consequently the NMP mapping may be less accurate than usual.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 28 November 2006.