NHER 22998 (Monument record) - Cropmarks of a probable medieval saltern mound

25 July 1986. NAU aerial photography.
Positive cropmarks
Ovoid enclosure, with 'Keyhole' shape feature and eight 'pit-like' features within. Also inside the enclosure are a number of apparently concentric lines mirroring the shape of the enclosure.
Consensus of opinion (D. Gurney, R. Silvester NAU) is that this site is possibly that of a salt mound. However this interpretation is subject to on-site verification.
D. A. Edwards (NAU), 20 October 1986.

December 2002. Norfolk NMP.
(NGR amended from original TF 5628 2713).
The southern and eastern part of the enclosure is formed by a single curvilinear ditch. The northwest corner of the mound is enclosed by a wider, right-angled segment of drainage ditch, which was part of a wider system of dykes still extant in 1966 (S3). This may have utilised or truncated an original length of the thinner enclosing ditch. The enclosure has a north to south length of 85m and a width of 45m. The area within the interior of the enclosing ditch displays a slightly raised and parched appearance in 1946 (S2) reminiscent of a saltern mound, although the enclosure ditch is not visible at that time. To the inside of the enclosing ditch is at least one and probably two, thinner and more ephemeral lines of ditch, only visible intermittently (S1).
There are nine sub-round or irregular features within the enclosure, that may represent pits, or very large random postholes. Within the centre of the enclosure is a relatively large keyhole-shaped pit, with its long axis aligned in a north to south direction. The feature has a length of 14m and a width of 7m. The feature may simply represent the site of a pit but the elongated, thinning northern part of the feature may represent a flue relating to a kiln type structure, although this seems unlikely.
The feature is probably a medieval saltern mound that has been enclosed by a ditch, either defining or defending the site during or after salt production had ceased. The pits within the enclosure may represent some random extraction but may equally represent evidence of occupation of the mound during salt production. The site was presumably on the edge of a saltmarsh creek and may have held a strategic position within the surrounding saltmarsh, which might also explain the presence of the enclosure to the immediate north, representing a precursor or successor to this site. A pre-medieval date is possible for the feature but the tidal, saltmarsh location suggests that this is unlikely.
M. Brennand (NMP), 16 December 2002.