NHER 44817 (Monument record) - Multi-phase cropmarks of former field boundaries and possible enclosures

March 2005. Norfolk NMP.
A group of multiphase cropmarks of former field boundaries and a possible enclosure is visible on aerial photographs to the south of Hickling Hall (S1-S4). The site is centred on TG 4113 2413, although this point does not correspond to an archaeological feature on the ground. All of these cropmarks are undated, although it likely that they range in date from the late prehistoric period onwards. Other cropmarks within this area have been recorded separately as they appear to form discrete groups and phases of features of possible Iron Age to Roman and medieval to post medieval date, see NHER 28818, 44807-10.

The cropmarks centred on TG 4126 2408 are located within an area of geological cropmarks and it is possible that some of the features mapped are also geological in origin. However the linear nature of these features digitised would suggest that they are archaeological. The ditches possibly form part of an elongated rectilinear enclosed area, measuring 30m by at least 60m. Other linear ditches recorded as part of this site, such as at TG 4109 2426 (S4) and TG 4115 2401 (S1), follow the same alignment and others, such as at TG 4106 2437 (S1) are perpendicular to this. This may indicate that all of these linear ditches and the enclosed area are part of a field system of unknown date. Some of the cropmarks recorded within the centre of the site, at TG 4110 2410, also follow a similar alignment. Although the double ditched linear feature to the north, possibly a trackway, is aligned slightly differently (S2-S3). The arrangement of these features is mirrored in another group of ditches to the east at TG 4125 2406 (S4).
S. Massey (NMP), 29 March 2005.