NHER 18875 (Cropmark and Earthwork record) - Site of possible Neolithic oval barrow or mortuary enclosure

30 July 1979. Aerial photography by Aerial Archaeology Foundation (S1).
Positive cropmarks.
One ring ditch - in between runways on site of old RAF airfield.
D. Edwards (NAU), 24 February 1979.

Actually between a dispersal area and hangars. Not a usual place for a searchlight. This could easily be a genuine ring ditch fortuitously avoided by airfield development.
E. Rose (NAU), 25 February 1983.

This is outside the area scheduled for industrial development.
E. Rose (NAU), 1 December 1988.

December 2007. Norfolk NMP.
A possible Neolithic oval barrow or mortuary enclosure is visible as a cropmark on aerial photographs (S1)-(S2), centred at TG 2826 1338. The site is similar in both its size and shape to other possible examples of Neolithic funerary monuments mapped in Norfolk (S3) and elsewhere (S4). At the same time, the site is located on a former World War Two airfield (NHER 8170) and a more recent military origin for the cropmark cannot be ruled out, particularly given the lack (in the collections consulted by the NMP) of any pre-1945 aerial photographs for the area. In fact a small gun emplacement (part of NHER 8170) has been mapped only 20m to its southeast. The site is nonetheless convincing as a prehistoric feature, especially given its rather irregular plan form.
The site comprises an oval ‘ring ditch’ or enclosure, with a possible causeway at its eastern end. (The latter might be the product of truncation by a field boundary shown on the Ordnance Survey 2nd edition 25 inch map (S5).) The appearance of some sections of the ditch suggests that they have been recut. The enclosure measures 36m long and 27.5m wide.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 11 December 2007.

See (S6) for an additional aerial photograph.
H. Hamilton (HES), 23 August 2013.

May 2021. Geophysical Survey.
Magnetometer survey of part of large proposed development area.
This survey identified a distinct anomaly that corresponds closely with the mapped cropmark in both form and location. This intermittent nature of this anomaly suggests that there may be at least one break in the circuit of the ditch, with the main possible gap lying on its eastern side, where a possible causeway is also indicated by the cropmark evidence.
There is no suggestion of internal features.
See reports (S7) and (S8) and NHER 66693 for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 7 March 2023.

September-December 2021. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of part of large proposed development area.
This work saw two trenches placed across sections of this ring-ditch, which was shown to survive to a depth of up to 1m. Finds were though limited to a single sherd of undiagnostic prehistoric pottery and a small number of prehistoric worked flints, the majority of which were small pieces of debitage recovered from samples. Within the bounds of the ring-ditch the natural sands and gravels were overlain by a compacted mid brown silty sand deposit interpreted as either the remains of a mound or the remnants of a buried soil beneath such a feature. No significant internal features were identified.
See report (S9) and NHER 66693 for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 7 March 2023.

September 2025. Record reviewed as part of the Forestry Commission Project K
The possible Neolithic oval barrow or mortuary enclosure (see above) is also clearly visible as a cropmark on S10 and faintly visible on S11.
J. Powell (Norfolk County Council Environment Team), 02 August 2025