NHER 17471 (Monument record) - Site of probable drainage features, previously intepreted as a moat

1 July 1981. NAU aerial photography (S1).
Soilmarks/cropmarks.
Possible moat.
D. Edwards (NAU), 28 July 1981.

May 1983.
Site walked under good conditions. Weathered sugar beet.
No finds.
A. Gregory, 6 July 1983.

February 2008. Norfolk NMP.
The possible moat described above is visible as earthworks and cropmarks on aerial photographs (S1-3), centred at TG 2692 1558. It is not particularly convincing as a moat, being rather fragmentary and with only one substantial side. On aerial photographs taken in 1947 (S2), before the field was ploughed, several of the mapped features look like relatively modern drainage ditches.

The ditches form an approximate square, measuring 55m by 57m. There appears to be some sort of mound or raised area, sited within a larger, amorphous depression in the southeastern corner of the ‘moat’. On photographs taken in 1990 (S3), when the site is visible as cropmarks, the appearance of these features seems to be the reverse of what is visible in 1947, i.e. the mound looks like a pit, and the larger depression like a platform or raised area. This reinforces the impression that this part of the site is a natural, geological feature, rather than man-made.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 1 February 2008.