NHER 4323 (Monument record) - Site of medieval to post medieval mound north of Paddys Loke

Formerly part of Reedham parish.

1964. Mound, reported as about 1.5m (5ft) high, was bulldozed. Bulldozer driver said to have seen circular foundations. The field in which this mound was is about 0.3m (1ft) higher than the surrounding terrain.
Quantities of animal bones, oyster shells and potsherds 14th to 18th centuries. Possibly a pumping mill site but amount of debris suggests dumping from Yarmouth.
Information from P. Trett, Great Yarmouth, investigated by C. G. Rye. About 228m (250yds) northwest of Marsh Farm. E. B. Green (NAU).

(S1) states hand made bricks as well, and that 'circle' consisted of burnt flints. Overall evidence suggests a salt boiling site rather than a mill site. Material was dumped in a hollow elsewhere.
E. Rose (NLA), 16 April 1992

April 2006. Norfolk NMP.
NMP mapping has led to the alteration of the central grid reference of the site from TG 512 093 to TG 5119 0928.

The medieval to post medieval mound described above is visible as an earthwork and later as a crop- and soilmark on aerial photographs (S2)-(S6). Although its date seems relatively clear from the material recovered from the site, like other mounds identified on Halvergate Marshes, such as NHER 4322 660m to the southwest, its function is more enigmatic. As described above, such sites have been associated with salt making, although the implication from Lark’s account (S1) is that the process used involved boiling and/or evaporating brine from a low-lying salt pan. This would contrast with the sand-washing technique used in the Wash, and elsewhere, which resulted in the construction of large numbers of saltern mounds, at places such as South Wootton, composed of the waste silt and sand produced by this method (see Grady 1998 (S8) for a description of the different processes). Other possible interpretations of mounds of this type are as the sites of marsh farms, or simply as refuges for cattle or other livestock (see Williamson 1997 (S8)). The recovery of quantities of what appears to be domestic refuse from the mound may indicate that the first of these two interpretations is correct. There seems to be little evidence that it was the site of a drainage mill.

The mound, as visible as an earthwork (and as mapped by the NMP), was a regular oval in shape and measured approximately 34.5m long and 25m wide. It contrasts with other mounds mapped to the southwest, such as NHER 4322, in lacking a surrounding ditch. The crop- and soilmark appears to be slightly larger and more circular that the earthwork. An interesting feature of the mark is a squarish, dark feature located within the mound, towards its southeast side (this has not been mapped by the NMP). It is reminiscent of the dark centres observed on aerial photographs of levelled medieval saltern mounds in Lincolnshire, which were tentatively suggested as the remains of the filtration units used in the sand-washing process (S9). This similarity could reflect the production of salt using this technique at the site described here.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 7 April 2006.