NHER 27263 (Monument record) - Medieval to post medieval field boundaries and trackways

December 2005. Norfolk NMP.
Some of the cropmarks described below were previously recorded as NHER 12179 and NHER 18189.

Cropmarks of trackways and field boundaries are visible on aerial photographs (S1) to (S8), centred at TG 4880 1502. Most share a similar orientation to the cropmarks of medieval to post medieval settlement, trackways and enclosures to the east and southeast (NHER 18320) which surround the former site of St Peter’s Church (NHER 8648). The cropmarks described here probably represent the less intensive, agricultural use of land on the periphery of the former settlement core. Additional cropmarks to the north (NHER 19534 and 27265) and northwest (NHER 27264) may mark further outlying elements.

The boundaries and trackways were laid out across the site of several probable Bronze Age round barrows (NHER 12189, 12179 and 42050). The fact that these appear to have been avoided by the medieval to post medieval features suggests that they still survived as earthworks when the later ditches were laid out. The arrangement of fields and trackways may have been modified over a period of time; in the northeast corner of the site, a single ditch oriented approximately north to south (visible between TG 4890 1512 and TG 4885 1493) may have replaced the northeast to southwest oriented trackway (or double ditched boundary) immediately to its east (visible between TG 4893 1512 and TG 4891 1508). Some of the ditches correspond with boundaries depicted on the parish Tithe Map (S9), indicating that they continued in use into the late post medieval period. A linear alignment of ditch segments visible between TG 4900 1506 and TG 4864 1507 has the appearance of being a post medieval or even modern boundary or drain. Additional archaeological features in the southwest corner of the site may be visible on certain aerial photographs (S1) to (S3) but these were difficult to distinguish from geological cropmarks and consequently have not been mapped.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 19 December 2005.