NHER 39755 (Cropmark and Earthwork record) - Probable site of Bronze Age round barrow at Clippesby

September 2003. Aerial photography.
Cropmark of ring ditch.
See (S1) in file.
D. Gurney (NLA), 12 September 2003.

May 2007. Norfolk NMP.
NMP mapping has led to the alteration of the central grid reference of the site from TG 4307 1461 to TG 4308 1461.

The ring ditch described above is visible as a cropmark on the aerial photograph (S1). No dating evidence has been recovered from the site (other than medieval and post medieval material from the surrounding field, NHER 35853) but its general character and topographic location suggest that its interpretation as a Bronze Age feature, which presumably once surrounded a round barrow, is plausible. This suggestion is also supported by its apparently linear alignment with two barrows to its southeast (NHER 18903 and 18904), although they are spaced too far apart and their layout is too irregular to be confident that the group represents a cemetery. Given its oval plan, the ring ditch could even represent the remains of a Neolithic oval barrow or ovoid mortuary enclosure, but such monuments are relatively rare.

The ring ditch is oval in plan and measures 63m by 55m. A possible entrance on its southwest side appears to be closed by a narrower length of ditch, perhaps indicating that the ring ditch was recut and remodelled at some stage.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 24 May 2007.