NHER 38476 (Cropmark and Earthwork record) - Cropmarks of Iron Age square barrows

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

Two square ditched enclosures are visible as cropmarks on aerial photographs (S1-2), centred at TG 2098 3683. The remnants of what may be a third square enclosure are faintly visible at TG 2099 3683. Given their small size and their location in close proximity to a variety of prehistoric funerary monuments, it seems likely that they are the remains of Iron Age square barrows. It is notable that they lie at the junction of three trackways (NHER 38483); another square barrow (NHER 13027) has been identified adjacent to what may be a continuation of the south-eastern trackway (NHER 38472).

The three enclosures are roughly square in plan with rounded corners. The larger, north-western enclosure measures 10.5m wide; the central enclosure measures 8.5m wide. Breaks at the southern and eastern corners of the north-western enclosure may be caused by the cropmark being masked rather than genuine causeways. Both these enclosures contain large, elongated pits which may represent graves, but these should be treated with caution since the background geology is conducive to producing pit-like cropmarks. The third enclosure, which lies to the east of the other two, is 9m wide. No central pit is visible. Only part of its ditch is faintly visible, and it is possible these fragments are geological or agricultural in origin.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 1 April 2004