NHER 42155 (Monument record) - Undated drains

November 2005. Norfolk NMP.
A group of linear banks and ditches is visible as cropmarks and low earthworks on aerial photographs (S1), (S2), (S3), (S4) and (S5), centred at TG 4629 2370. Their location on low-lying ground and their general appearance suggests that they are probably part of a drainage system. Their date is uncertain as they are not depicted on any of the consulted historic maps, e.g. (S6), (S7) and (S8), and they could pre-date these maps or be minor drains ignored by the surveyors. It is notable that the western end of the main east-to-west drain (that part visible between TG 4610 2371 and TG 4621 2367) is fairly sinuous, a characteristic often associated with early drainage works utilising natural watercourses (S9). It is also notable that at TG 4633 2379 one of the ditches appears to cross a substantial drain shown on the historic maps (S6), (S7) and (S8) but it is not clear which is earlier or, since the cropmark is rather insubstantial and only visible on one aerial photographs (S2), whether it is even an archaeological feature. The fact that a number of ponds, perhaps created by the extraction of peat or clay, are depicted in this area on Faden’s 1797 Map of Norfolk (S10) (see NHER 42154) may also be significant. The pits or ponds could have required drainage during their conjectured use for extraction, or for the subsequent agricultural improvement of the surrounding land. The relationship between the drains described here and either the drains to the northwest (NHER 42153 and 42154) or the areas of extraction to the southeast (NHER 42156) is also not known.

More recent aerial photographs, e.g. (S5), indicate that the elements of the site visible as low earthworks on the 1940s aerial photographs have since been levelled.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 16 November 2005.