NHER 4186 (Cropmark and Earthwork record) - Site of Pinkneys or Sparham deserted medieval settlement

Deserted medieval village site.
Pinkneys according to R.R. Clarke (NCM).
Sparham according to Ordnance Survey who say mentioned in Nomina Villarum.

June 1956.
Sealed well of flint and mortar around 1.5m (5 feet) diameter found opposite hall, water level around 4.5m (15 feet) deep. Also found were animal bones, 12th to 13th century pottery (NCM 37.960) and part base of rotary quern. Mortared flint wall around 2.7m (9 feet) long found near well. Ditch and bank round area on three sides.
Informtion from E.P.V. Whitaker.

In January 1982 above pottery re-examined by A. Rogerson (NAU) who found it included two Thetford-type ware rims.

May 1978. Visit.
Two of the fields are under crop; the ground is still bumpy but has been levelled (see NHER 4189, destroyed 'barrow' probably a deserted medieval earthwork). On map, 'ditch' marked on west, but looks more like an old hollow way. Banks crowned by hedges around edge of site; probably only old field boundaries.
E. Rose (NAU), 24 May 1978.

September 2023. Wendling Beck and Fransham Aerial Investigation and Mapping (AIM) Project.
Earthworks most likely relating to the former medieval settlement of Sparham or Pinkneys (see above) are visible on aerial photographs from 1946 (S1-S2). The majority of the earthworks have been levelled by the 1970s (S2-S4) with some of the features visible as cropmarks on relatively recent (2006 and 2022) aerial photographs (S5 and S6). Some of the features also survive as low earthworks on visualised lidar data from a survey flown in 2017 (S7). The features visible on the aerial sources most likely relate to a series of possible enclosures, field boundaries, boundary banks, a hollow way, a possible house platform, drainage ditches and ponds. The possibility that some of the features may relate to post medieval drainage ditches also cannot be ruled out. The majority of the features are also not visible on the readily available historic maps such as S8 and S9.
The monument polygon has been extended to the extent of the features as visible on S1-S2.
J. Powell (Norfolk Historic Environment Service), 29 September 2023.