NHER 42061 (Monument record) - Former post medieval pond or cuts, possibly associated with wild fowling

September 2005. Norfolk NMP.
The soilmarks of a post medieval rectilinear cut feature are visible on aerial photographs within arable to the immediate west of Decoy Covert, Sea Palling (S1). A broad channel or similar cut linear feature appears to lead to one corner of this feature. The corners appear to be slightly elongated into a ‘spout’, although it is possible that this is an effect of the soil movement created by ploughing. However they are reminiscent of the pipes constructed on duck decoys. A decoy function could also be suggested by the name of the adjacent woods ‘Decoy Covert’. Waxham is the known to be the location of one of the earliest duck decoys in the country, established in the reign of James I, previously thought to be within or near Lambridge Covert 500m to the northwest; see NHER 13293. However the location of this site has possibly been identified on aerial photographs to the southeast on Waxham marsh (NHER 42091). The site is centred on TG 4353 2544, although this point does not correspond with an actual archaeological feature on the ground.

The soilmarks of this cut correspond to a square enclosed or fenced area depicted on the Enclosure map for Waxham as a hashed line (S2). This map is undated, but must have been surveyed after 1820’s as Waxham Cut is marked and this navigable channel was dug in the 1820’s (NHER 35366). To the immediate south of the square feature is a linear feature which follows the line of the cut and then curves upwards towards Decoy Covert, this is also shown as a hashed line. This is possibly the line of a fence or similar boundary, or perhaps the line of a drainage channel. The square enclosed area within the field is still depicted on the 1840 Waxham Tithe map (S3), although the linear feature is not shown.

The rectilinear cut feature measures at least 41m by 27m and is centred on TG 4341 2536. The channel leading from this towards the Decoy Covert is 60m long and 6m wide.

To the north of Decoy Covert is an irregularly shaped soilmark indicating either a cut feature and/or an area of damp ground, centred on TG 4363 2552. Reference to the undated Enclosure map (S2) indicates that this was once part of the covert. It is also interesting to note that this area is not marked as woodland on this earlier map. It is possible, then, that this was wet ground onto which carr woodland was allowed to establish throughout the first half of the nineteenth century, as it is shown as woodland in 1840 (S3). Given the name of the covert and the possible presence of pipes on the soilmark it is possible that a small decoy was established on this location, although the ‘pipes’ are not convincing enough or substantial enough for interpretation to be upheld without further evidence. The square area was certainly surveyed as being separate from the rest of the field, and this suggests a different ownership of the land. The description given of the location of the very early Waxham duck decoy states that it was located ‘in a large marsh near the sea-coast… which is now drained, and the site of the pool planted with osiers’ (Sir Ralph Payne-Gallwey, 1886 (S4)). The description does not sound like the location of this site, as it is located very much on the edge of the marsh. By the late 1800s when the author would have visited the site, it would have been within a very drained and enclosed landscape; see NHER 13293 and NHER 42091 for possible locations of this early Waxham Decoy site. It is possible that this cut feature, fenced off in the earlier nineteenth century, was an extraction area or the site of an area of water or wet woodland.
S. Massey (NMP), 31 September 2005.