NHER 43442 (Cropmark and Earthwork record) - Possible boundary bank of unknown date at The Sundowner Holiday Park and Highfield Equestrian Centre, Newport

March 2006. Norfolk NMP.
A possible bank or trackway, flanked by a ditch at its western end, is visible as a soilmark and slight earthwork on aerial photographs (S1)-(S2), between TG 4997 1682 and TG 5046 1683. It is largely undated, although the easternmost segment (visible between TG 5036 1680 and TG 5046 1683) may correspond with a field boundary depicted on Hemsby Enclosure Map (S3) indicating that this part, at least, was still in use in the early 19th century. The bank could have acted as a boundary of some kind, perhaps within a former field system. Alternatively, it could represent a former trackway or road, perhaps an earlier course of Newport Road, which now runs to the north of the site. It may once have joined to a similar bank visible 88m to the east (NHER 43441). Its relationship with the possibly post Roman field system and field boundaries to its south (NHER 17673 and 43442 respectively) is not known, but its orientation is not entirely at odds with these other sites. The fact that the eastern and western halves of the bank are each visible on a different set of aerial photographs from a single year (taken in 1940 (S1) for the eastern half, and in 1968 (S2) for the western half) means that the archaeological origin of the site is rather uncertain. The fact that the two halves join up, however, suggests that this is not simply a group of modern agricultural marks.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 27 March 2006.