NHER 38503 (Monument record) - Cropmarks of Roman or medieval field boundaries

March 2004, Norfolk NMP
The cropmarks described below were previously recorded as NHER 36480.

A number of ditches are visible as cropmarks on aerial photographs (S1), centred around TG 2186 3570. They are the southernmost elements of a series of linear features visible on these aerial photographs, the remainder of which are likely to be field boundaries and agricultural features of post-medieval and modern date and have consequently not been mapped. They lie just to north, and appear to be cut by, Topshill Road. This part of the road appears to have been constructed between 1797 and 1826 (S2-3), perhaps as part of the extension of Gunton Park to the north during this period (NHER 30438; S4).

It has previously been suggested that the linear features within this field might be of late Iron Age to Romano-British date (NHER 36480). As with a number of mapped and unmapped linear features visible in the field to the south (NHER 38497), it is possible that the ditches are part of an extensive field system 700m to the east (NHER 38499) which can be dated tentatively to the Romano-British period. Alternatively, they may relate to a pre-19th-century field pattern of medieval or early post-medieval origin surrounding the village of Roughton. A medieval seal matrix has been found 40m north of the site (NHER 37667).
S. Tremlett (NMP), 12 March 2004