NHER 42439 (Monument record) - Earthworks of drainage ditches or a possible post medieval water meadow

January 2006. Norfolk NMP.
Earthworks of possible post medieval narrow ridge and furrow and drainage ditches are visible on aerial photographs (S1). These earthworks are centred on TG 4879 0754 in an area of former marshland close to the north bank of Breydon Water. The earthworks of the ridge and furrow are present on a similar alignment to the extant drainage pattern. However they lie within an area defined by drainage ditches on a different alignment. It is possible that the ridge and furrow dates to the period of the Napoleonic Wars (1793-1815) when grain prices were high and areas of the marshland were taken into arable cultivation (S2).
J. Albone (NMP), 23 January 2006.

January-February 2023. Earthwork Survey.
Analytical earthwork survey undertaken ahead of proposed habitat improvement works (Field I).
The various elements of the probable floated water meadow at the southern end of the site are still identifiable. It can now be seen that the north-north-west to south-south-east aligned irrigation channels (Feature 47) are interspersed with several more substantial drainage channels that are closer in width to the east-to-west aligned channel that forms the northern boundary of the meadow (Feature 46, which appears to have been recut).
The westernmost of the previously recorded north-to-south aligned drainage ditches also survives as an identifiable earthwork (Feature 44), although this shows little evidence for the suggested turn to the west at its northern end. Its line could only be clearly traced to TG 4870 0761, where it meets the eastern end of a north-east to south-west aligned bank and ditch feature that continues into the fields to the west (Feature 40).
The most notable of the previously unrecorded earthworks is a possible rectangular building platform at TG 4876 0760 (Feature 43) that measures approximately 45m by 20m. This is surrounded by ditch and bank features of varying width and depth/height.
A number of other linear drainage channels were also recorded, including one aligned north-west to south-east that extends from the possible building platform (Feature 41).
See report (S3) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 15 August 2024.