NHER 42361 (Monument record) - Probably post medieval enclosures at Winterton Holmes

January 2006. Norfolk NMP.
Two conjoined enclosures and an associated ditch are visible as cropmarks and soilmarks on aerial photographs (S1)-(S4), centred at TG 4783 2161. They form a distinctive element, perhaps indicative of a specialised function, within a larger drainage system of medieval to post medieval date (NHER 42360). Their exact function is unknown but seems likely to have been agricultural given their location. Their rectilinear arrangement and their shared orientation with the field pattern shown on the Ordnance Survey 2nd edition 25 inch map (S5) suggests a post medieval date. It is worth noting that the associated ditch, which forms the east and northeast side of the site, mirrors a change in cultivation visible on photographs taken in 1973 (S3) and perhaps marks a boundary between the higher ground of Winterton Holmes and the lower (and wetter) ground to its north.

The northern enclosure is sub-rectangular in shape, its east and northeast side being formed by the angle of the associated ditch which it appears to abut. It measures up to 59.5m long and 43.5m wide. The southern enclosure, which appears to abut the first, is rectangular in shape and measures 76.5m long and 55.75m wide. It seems to be subdivided at its northern end but this mark may be of recent agricultural origin. Narrow drains recorded as part of NHER 42360 abut both the east and west sides of the southern enclosure.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 13 January 2006.