NHER 42193 (Monument record) - Possible former medieval extraction site

November 2005. Norfolk NMP.
A possible peat or clay extraction site is visible as vegetation marks and probably low earthworks on aerial photographs (S1), (S2) and (S3), centred at TG 4670 2215. The marks are similar to those at a more extensive site mapped approximately 400m to the north (NHER 42156). Extraction in this area of the Upper Thurne Valley may have been for clay or peat, or for both, as outlined by Williamson in ‘The Broads’ (S4). It presumably took place during the medieval period, prior to the rise in relative water levels that brought to an end large-scale extraction of this type. Alternatively, the cropmarks could have formed over geological anomalies or over naturally formed pools and channels which have since silted up. For the most part, however, their edges appear regular and sharp enough to suggest that the features were a product of human activity.

The cropmarks and earthworks, which are occasionally rather indistinct, appear to have formed over an area of wetter ground, presumably the silted up former extraction pit or pits. The site is not depicted on any of the consulted historic maps; the area is shown as undrained marshland on the earliest map (Faden’s Map of 1797, (S5)). The extraction area had probably become silted by this date; the site is variously skirted and overlain by the probably multi-period drains mapped in the surrounding area (NHER 42194) and boundaries depicted on Horsey Enclosure Map (S6). What appear to be numerous former channels and pools, to which the extraction site is connected, are visible in the surrounding area on aerial photographs but these seem to be of natural origin and consequently have not been mapped.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 29 November 2005.