NHER 38562 (Cropmark and Earthwork record) - Cropmarks of ring ditches

March 2004, Norfolk NMP
The cropmarks described below were previously recorded as NHER 12847.

Two ring ditches are visible as cropmarks on aerial photographs (S1-3), centred at TG 2085 3681. Given their location, in an area notable for its density of sites associated with Neolithic and Bronze Age ceremonial and funerary activity, they are most likely to be the remains of Bronze Age round barrows. The fact that they are skirted by three tracks of probable Iron Age date (NHER 38483) suggests that they survived as earthworks until at least this date; the siting of at least two Iron Age square barrows (NHER 38476) 80m to their east suggests that they remained significant features during this period.

Both ring ditches are rather sub-circular in plan and of a similar size, measuring approximately 25m in diameter. The cropmark of the north-eastern ring ditch is less clear than that to the south-west, and breaks in its circuit may reflect the cropmark being masked rather than genuine causeways. Pit-like features are visible within both ring ditches, but the nature of the background geology makes it impossible to tell from the consulted photographs whether these are archaeological in origin.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 1 April 2004