NHER 17228 (Cropmark and Earthwork record) - Cropmarks of two enclosures and field boundaries of unknown date

4 June 1980. NAU air photography.
Negative cropmarks of a small subrectangular enclosure.
The ditch of which is a 'negative' cropmark - indicating that the growth has been so promoted (at this early date) that the crop has ripened in advance of that surrounding it.
Not that there are necessarily any substantial stone features beneath the crop.
D. Edwards (NAU) 11 March 1981.

Grid reference corrected by E Rose (NAU) 12 August 1986.

The central grid reference of this site has been altered from TG 3892 0818 to TG 3903 0831.

June 2007. Norfolk NMP.
The cropmarks of two enclosures and field boundaries of unknown, but possible Roman date are visible on aerial photographs to the east of Beighton Church (S1-S3). The site is centred on TG 3903 0831.

The main component of the site is a sub-rectangular enclosure, located at TG 3896 0819 and measuring 14m by 10m internally. The ditch is 1-2m wide. Within the centre of this enclosure is a cross-shaped arrangement of ditches, although it is possible that the two sets of cropmarks are not contemporary. To the northeast of the main enclosure is another possible enclosure, however it must be noted that the cropmarks are quite hard to distinguish from the surrounding geological cropmarks and therefore some uncertainty must remain over the origin of the cropmarks visible. The possible enclosure is square 11-12m across and located at TG 3899 0824. Both of these enclosures are located to the north of a possible Roman villa site (NHER 21762) and an extensive planned Roman landscape (NHER 6096). It is possible that these enclosures are also Roman in date, however this is not certain.

The size and the shape of the square enclosure would compare well with a group of square enclosures tentatively interpreted as Iron Age to Roman funerary sites, possibly similar to square barrows although not necessarily with a central inhumation.

A number of fragmentary linear ditches, the majority of which are likely to be the remains of former field boundaries, have also been recorded within this site. It is not clear whether any of these are contemporary with either of the enclosures.
S. Massey (NMP), 28 June 2007.

May 2024. Broads Hidden Heritage: Aerial Perspectives.
Additional linear ditches, probably field boundaries but of unknown date, are visible as cropmarks on Google Earth aerial photographs taken in 2006 (S4). The Monument Polygon defining the extent of the site has been expanded to the north and east to include these.
S. Tremlett (Norfolk County Council, Historic Environment Service), 24 May 2024.