NHER 42360 (Monument record) - Possible medieval or post medieval drains and possible pond or broad

January 2006. Norfolk NMP. Winterton and Somerton Holmes.
An extensive group of former drains is visible as earthworks, cropmarks and soilmarks on aerial photographs (S1 to S21), centred at approximately TG 4767 2180. Although there is no clear dating evidence for the features, most are likely to date to the post medieval period. They may relate to attempts to drain the area of wetter ground formerly occupied by a large pond, depicted on both Faden’s and Bryant’s maps of Norfolk (S22 and S23). The pond may have been a broad, created by the extraction of peat and/or clay in the medieval period, as outlined by Williamson in ‘The Broads’ (S24). The sinuous and curvilinear drains may have originated as natural channels; such features are typically associated with relatively early drainage attempts, perhaps dating back to the medieval period (S25). Towards the southeast corner of the site are two conjoined enclosures and an associated ditch. These are integrated into, and actually form part of, the drainage system described here, but they have also been recorded separately (as NHER 42361) as the presence of enclosures may denote some kind of specialised function for this part of the site. A mound located towards the southwest corner of the site, recorded as NHER 42386, is respected by the surrounding drains but may or may not have formed part of the drainage system. Other drains identified in the surrounding area, for example NHER 42382 and 42385 immediately to the south, may once have joined to the system described here.

For the most part, the mapped drains are not depicted on historic maps. Some elements, such as the segment of northwest to southeast oriented ditch visible between TG 4796 2177 and TG 4806 2170, may correspond with boundaries depicted on Winterton Enclosure Map (S26), in this case with a probable bank, perhaps a sea bank. Others fit the pattern of enclosure depicted on historic Ordnance Survey maps, such as the Ordnance Survey 2nd edition 25 inch (S27 to S28). At TG 4712 2160 and at TG 4768 2194, for example, disused drains mapped by the NMP join to drains depicted on the historic Ordnance Survey maps. Parts of the drainage system may relate to relatively modern features; the narrow drains and pit visible around TG 4751 2160 may be associated with the sluice or similar feature to their east, in the southeast corner of the field. Some of the drains are difficult to distinguish from natural features, as at TG 4719 2193 where several channels (probably originally natural) and possible drains seem to be present, or with the ditch visible between TG 4784 2176 and TG 4789 2165, the archaeological origin of which is uncertain. Other elements may be of recent agricultural origin, such as the ditch visible between TG 4760 2162 and TG 4778 2168, or the partly parallel drains visible between TG 4785 2193 and TG 4792 2192, but as they fit the same pattern as the other mapped drains their archaeological origin cannot be ruled out.

The most recent consulted aerial photographs (S20 and S21) demonstrate that while much of the site has been levelled, some elements may still survive as earthworks.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 12 January 2006.