NHER 43488 (Monument record) - Possible mound north of Breydon Junction

April 2006. Norfolk NMP.
A possible mound, or mounds, encircled by a ditch, is visible as earthworks on aerial photographs (S1)-(S3), centred at TG 5041 0893. This may be one of several sites of this type found across Halvergate Marsh, a group which includes the more obvious mound visible 45m to the northeast of the site (NHER 4322). Excavation has suggested a medieval date for a number of these mounds (see (S4)), although they often remained in use in the post medieval period and a post medieval date for the construction of some of them cannot be ruled out. Their function remains enigmatic. Some, including NHER 4322, have been suggested as possible saltern sites but there is little evidence to support this. Some may represent the remains of marsh farms, while others could simply have been refuges for cattle or other livestock (S4). It should be noted that unlike NHER 4322 to the northeast, the archaeological origin or significance of the features mapped at this site is not certain. On the basis of the aerial photographic evidence alone, the ditches might be interpreted as drains and tracks (they connect to drains depicted on historic Ordnance Survey maps, for example (S5)) and the low ‘mound’ as simply a spread of material dredged from the surrounding dykes or the detritus from agricultural activity. Like NHER 4322, however, the western half of the site appears to have been mapped as a separate field on Acle Tithe Map (S6), suggesting that it too was still a distinctive feature in the mid 19th century. Recent aerial photographs indicate that the site has now been substantially levelled.

As visible on the aerial photographs the mound has an irregular curvilinear shape. It measures up to approximately 93m long (east to west) and 75m wide (north to south), excluding the outer ditch.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 7 April 2006.