NHER 36861 (Monument record) - Site of post medieval road

August 2000. Suffolk NMP.
A road is visible on as a cropmark on (S1), curving from TF 9139 4289 to TF 9146 4308. The road seems to be one marked on Faden's map of 1797 (S2). Near the centre of its visible length it seems to be intersected by a field boundary or possible second trackway.
See NMP plot in file.
Compiled by A. Miller (Suffolk County Council NMP).
D. Gurney (NLA), 13 February 2002. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 29 December 2022.

October 2002. Norfolk NMP.
In addition to the features mapped by A. Miller for Suffolk County Council (for NMP as part of the Norfolk and Suffolk rapid coastal assessment), there appears to be the cropmark of a bank or compacted feature running alongside the eastern side of the North-South ditch, between NGR TF9147 4300 and TF9140 4288. This is visible on the Ordnance Survey 1970 aerial photographs (S1) (there may also be a similar feature on the west side of the ditch, but this is not clear). These features would appear to coincide with Goldsmiths Lane as indicated on the 16th century map of Wells (S3)/(S4). The east to west features previously mapped by Suffolk County Council would seem likely to be remnants of field boundaries (as they appear to coincide with field boundaries still in existence on BKS 1957 aerial photographs (S5). The road is at least of post-medieval date as it is shown on Faden’s map of Norfolk (1797) (S2) and the 16th century map of Wells.
H. Clare (NMP), 22 October 2002.

The east-to-west aligned cropmark is almost certainly the eastern end of an extensive cropmark previously recorded as NHER 11316 (the end of which had probably been inaccurately mapped). This feature coincides with an extensive field boundary shown on a map of 1780 (S6) (reproduced in (S7)). It was one of a series of roads/trackways and major field boundaries running parallel to the coast at this time. Numerous perpendicular field boundaries ran between this feature and a road to the north (marked as 'Holkham Road') and an unlabelled trackway to the south (marked as Great Bove Hall Lane on a later enclosure map). Its line was continued to the east by a section of track or road and it is possible that at least the easternmost part of this field boundary had also once been routeway of some kind. The road associated with the curving perpendicular cropmark can also be clearly seen on this map, marked as the road to Fakenham. The line of this road is shown only as a field boundary on a subsequent enclosure map of 1813 (S8).
P. Watkins (HES), 29 December 2022.

November 2012. Geophysical Survey.
Magnetometer survey of proposed development area at this location.
A curving north-to-south aligned linear anomaly clearly coincides with the line of the former road, demonstrating that this is likely to be associated with significant sub-surface remains. A linear anomaly identified to the west of the road appears to correspond with one of the perpendicular cropmarks.
See report (S9) and NHER 66649 for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 30 December 2022.

June-August 2013. Strip Map and Sample Excavation.
Final phase of archaeological mitigation undertaken ahead of residential development.
One of the two areas excavated targeted the former road, at the point where it intersected with the perpendicular cropmarks. The latter were both shown to be associated with ditches, but there was no evidence to suggest these had ever been anything other than field boundaries. No dating evidence was recovered but these ditches are presumed to be post-medieval, given their apparent relationship to features shown on late 18th and early 19th-century maps. A number of ditches likely to represent elements of an earlier field system were also uncovered – none of which had been previously identified as either cropmarks or geophysical anomalies. The road itself was found to be associated with a substantial hollow way. Unfortunately no secure dating was recovered from its primary fills, although it is noted that its western edge appeared to truncated a feature containing pottery of late 18th- to 20th-century date. It does though remain entirely possibly this road had much earlier origins.
Information from draft report. See NHER 66649 for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 30 December 2022.