NHER 38854 (Monument record) - Ditched enclosure of possible Iron Age or Roman date

October 2004. Norfolk NMP.
A rectilinear enclosure is partially visible as a cropmark on aerial photographs (S1), centred at TG 2574 3920. The date of the enclosure is unknown, but similar enclosures in Lincolnshire have been broadly dated to the Iron Age to early Roman periods (S2 p51; fig. 2). The enclosure appears to be relatively isolated. A possible smaller enclosure to its west (NHER 38855) has a very different morphology but could perhaps be related. Fragmentary linear ditches mapped in the area between the two (NHER 38856) follow a different alignment and in one case (at TG 2573 3916) the ditch appears to slight (or be slighted by) the eastern enclosure. Other linear features visible on aerial photographs (S1, S3) are likely to be agricultural and consequently have not been mapped. The site appears to pre-date the post medieval field pattern depicted on historic maps such as (S4).

The enclosure is only partially visible but is likely to be trapezoidal in plan. It measures between 65m and 71m wide and is visible for up to 70m of its length. The ditch is rather discontinuous or fragmentary and the enclosure may have been double ditched for at least part of its north side. Of the breaks in the ditch that at the south end of the west side (at TG 2572 3917) is most likely to be a genuine entrance but this is far from certain. A possible eastward continuation of the north side of the enclosure cannot be distinguished from modern agricultural marks and consequently has not been mapped.
(S1 to S4)
S. Tremlett (NMP), 13 October 2004.