NHER 44897 (Monument record) - Post medieval trackway with possibly late prehistoric origins north of Heath Road

July 2006. Norfolk NMP.
Part of the trackway described below was previously recorded as part of NHER 40655.

A trackway is visible as a cropmark and soilmark on aerial photographs (S1)-(S3), between TG 4413 1624 and TG 4387 1585. As most of the trackway (from TG 4405 1611 to TG 4387 1585) is depicted on Rollesby Enclosure Map (S4), it was clearly in use during the post medieval period. The archaeological origin of the northern segment of the track (visible from TG 4413 1624 to TG 4407 1616) is more dubious, but it could correspond to the track marked on Faden’s Map of Norfolk (S5). While the cartographic evidence indicates that the trackway was in use in the post medieval period, its alignment with trackways of possibly later prehistoric date to its southwest (NHER 44898) and northeast (NHER 32062) suggests that it could have much earlier origins. All these lengths of trackway, which perhaps once joined to each other, pass close to one or more ring ditches; in the case of the track described here, two ring ditches located 5m to the northwest and recorded as NHER 40655. The trackways appear to both be sited on and to respect the ring ditches, all of which probably represent Bronze Age funerary monuments.

A number of other undated cropmarks have been mapped in the area surrounding the trackway and are recorded as NHER 44900. Some of these may be contemporary with one or more of the trackway’s phases of use.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 31 July 2006.