NHER 44907 (Monument record) - Undated and medieval to post medieval ditches

August 2006. Norfolk NMP.
The cropmarks described below were previously recorded as part of NHER 15805.

Linear and curvilinear ditches are visible on aerial photographs (S1)-(S5), centred at TG 4238 1541. Although it is clear that they represent more than one phase of activity, the cropmarks are too fragmentary and confused to allow individual phases to be meaningfully distinguished. Some could be contemporary with the probably Neolithic and Bronze Age funeral monuments they surround (NHER 44905 and 15805). Certainly, some appear to respect individual round barrows, as at TG 4246 1536, where an east-to-west aligned ditch (or ditches) pass just to the north of a triple ring ditch. Some of the ditches aligned on a northwest-to-southeast orientation, or at 90 degrees to this, could be part of the same phase of land division as field boundaries of possible later prehistoric (Iron Age?) date visible to the east (NHER 44904 and 44902). Some could be associated with the possible Saxon grubenhauser towards the north side of the site (NHER 44906). Others, such as the two parallel, east-to-west ditches visible between TG 4233 1526 and TG 4250 1523, were certainly in use in the post medieval period, as they are depicted on the Tithe Map (S6). Their close spacing suggests that they could have originated as the boundaries between medieval strip fields. Other ditches oriented east-to-west and north-to-south, which fit the same general pattern, may also be of medieval to post medieval date.

The ditches are visible across an area measuring approximately 520m by 430m. It should be noted that it was frequently difficult to judge whether a feature was of archaeological or natural origin. The archaeological nature of some of the mapped ditches is therefore uncertain. For example, the substantial rectilinear ditches visible on the south side of the site (around TG 4243 1519) have a rather fuzzy appearance, something that is usually associated with geological cropmarks. Unmapped cropmarks include field boundaries depicted on historic Ordnance Survey maps, and marks that are probably a product of recent agricultural activity. In addition, due to an inadequate number of control points the photographs could not be properly rectified and this may have had an adverse effect on the accuracy of the mapping.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 10 August 2006.