NHER 43468 (Monument record) - Medieval to post medieval drains on Fisher's Marshes

April 2006. Norfolk NMP.
Ditches and banks are visible as earthworks and vegetation marks on aerial photographs (S1)-(S4), centred around TG 5020 0648. These appear to be drainage ditches with their accompanying flood banks or levees, which fit the same general pattern of drainage as that depicted on modern and historic Ordnance Survey maps. This includes both linear and curvilinear elements and is almost certainly the product of cumulative medieval and post medieval drainage works, including the adaptation of natural channels (see Williamson (S5)). The former drains mapped by the NMP are likely to be of similar date. Some, such as that visible between TG 5013 0628 and TG 5025 0629, are depicted on Bradwell Tithe Map (S6), indicating that they were still in use in the mid 19th century. One drain, visible intermittently between TG 5026 0660 and TG 5041 0629, is depicted on the Ordnance Survey 1st edition 6 inch map (S7), but not the Tithe Map, suggesting that it was created during the 19th century. The fact that only part of this drain was mapped by the Ordnance Survey, however, could indicate that it was an earlier feature which was partially re-excavated during this period. Several of the mapped drains appear to join to further drains mapped in the adjacent field to the west (NHER 42463). Some, such as the ditch visible between TG 5995 0675 and TG 5018 0668, may be natural drainage features, rather than being made (or modified) by humans. Some of the features may still survive as earthworks, while others appear to have been levelled (S4).
S. Tremlett (NMP), 3 April 2006.