NHER 42092 (Monument record) - Post medieval drainage ditch, possibly associated with duck decoy

September 2005. Norfolk NMP.
The earthworks, crop and soil marks of post medieval drainage channels are visible on aerial photographs, within Brograve Level marshes, Waxham (S1 and S2). The site is centred on TG 4355 2502, although this point does not correspond to an archaeological feature on the ground. The northern channels are marked on the on the Waxham Enclosure map (S3). This map is undated, but must have been surveyed between 1820 and 1840 (after 1820 as Waxham Cut is marked and this navigable channel was dug in the 1820s (NHER 35366), and before the 1840 Tithe map was surveyed). The Waxham New Cut divides the two northern channels, which presumably would have been continuous. The Cut was a navigable channel dug in the 1820’s, and ran from the northern end of Horsey Mere to Lound Bridge to the north (S4, page 142). The northern channel heads towards NHER 42091, which is marked as ‘decoy’on Fadens map of 1797 (S5). It is possible that this is a medieval peat cutting that was later used as a duck decoy after flooding, possibly having artificial pipes added to it in the early 17th Century; see NHER 13293 for discussion.

The two northern channels, prior to the reorganisation of the landscape associated with the New Cut, would have formed an irregular and curvilinear drainage boundary around the marshes. The segments of the channels visible on aerial photographs run from TG 4364 2512 to TG 4351 2518 and from TG 4363 2497 to TG 4378 2472. The third channel runs from TG 4328 2500 to TG 4357 2494.
S. Massey (NMP), 31 September 2005.