NHER 42411 (Monument record) - Possible undated saltern mounds in Halvergate marshes

January 2006. Norfolk NMP.
A group of possible saltern mounds is visible as earthworks and soilmarks on aerial photographs (S1)-(S3), between TG 5005 0986 and TG 5015 0970. They are situated along the west side of a curvilinear drain (Pickerill Holme) which may have originated as a natural channel. Given their location in former estuarine marshland (see Faden’s 1797 Map of Norfolk (S4) for example) they seem most likely to be the remains of saltern mounds, perhaps the product of a medieval salt industry utilising the sand-washing technique. A natural or recent agricultural origin for the mounds, however, perhaps as the spoil from dredging the adjacent drain, cannot be entirely ruled out. A further possible saltern lies approximately 220m to the northwest (NHER 42410); some may also lie to the south, e.g. at TG 5027 0938, but are difficult to distinguish from modern drainage features.

The southernmost and northernmost mounds, which were visible as earthworks in 1955 (S1) have now been levelled. The soilmark of the southern mound visible on later aerial photographs (S2)-(S3) suggests that it may have originated as two mounds. The soilmarks of the east side of the two central mounds is hidden by modern agricultural marks, but the mounds may also have been truncated by maintenance of the drain to their east.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 18 January 2006.