NHER 38289 (Monument record) - Possible Iron Age to Roman field system, pits or kilns, drove road and enclosures

THESE CROPMARKS WERE FORMERLY RECORDED UNDER NHER 1543.

1946.
Rectangular cropmark on RAF Aerial photograph.
(R. R. Clarke's card. On NCM map he draws it as trapezoidal).
E. Rose.

June 1980.
Units aerial photographs show west half of enclosure, as drawn by R. R. Clarke (NCM) but much larger.
E. Rose (NAU), 19 July 1982.

4 September 1989. NAU Aerial Photography.
Cropmarks of trackways and enclosures.
D. Edwards (NLA)/M. Flitcroft (NLA), February 1993.

July 2001. Norfolk NMP.
A series of linear features and enclosures that appear to represent two or three different systems of land division (S1). The western side of the site was excavated as NHER 1555 prior to the construction of the Snettisham by-pass. These cropmarks were formerly recorded under NHER 1543. There is a system of linear and curvilinear features visible (S1) which appear to be underlying the straighter ones, and are almost certainly earlier in date. There are a pair of parallel ditches curving round from the east towards the south forming a wide, droveway type feature, that narrows towards the south.
These features appear to be overlain by a system of more regular and cohesive ditched features aligned in approximately east to west and north to south directions. The ditches are forming a series of square and rectangular enclosures or fields with rounded corners. Within the south of the site are two sub-rectangular enclosures containing sub-rounded anomalies. Four of the sub-rounded features appear to have internal features and are likely to represent kilns or furnaces. They may be the source of pottery wasters found on site NHER 1555 in 1989. Although these ditches appear to be later than the curvilinear features they do appear to respect and incorporate the curving droveway.
The latest features are likely to be a series of substantial east to west and north to south aligned ditches, that appear to overlie and probably truncate the previous system. They are also on a slightly different alignment. The major east to west aligned ditch is recorded on the 2nd edition Ordnance Survey map (S2) and was still visible in the 20th century. However the same ditch appears to continue into the fields to the east (NHER 30303) but is not marked on the 2nd edition Ordnance Survey, suggesting these ditches date from an earlier period. Two large north to south aligned ditches appear to run from the line of this ditch to the north, containing a further right-angled stretch of wide ditch.
M. Brennand (NMP), 18 July 2001.