NHER 44936 (Monument record) - Site of multi-period field boundaries and other linear features northwest of Ashby Hall

August 2006. Norfolk NMP.
The cropmarks described below were formerly part of NHER 21839.

Multi-period cropmarks (and possibly slight earthworks in some cases) are visible on aerial photographs (S1)-(S3), centred at TG 4180 1593. For the most part, they are probably field boundaries or similar linear features. Several different phases of activity are evident in the varying orientation of the marks, but these are so overlaid that it is difficult to distinguish discrete groups of features that warrant recording individually. The earliest elements could be contemporary with the probable Bronze Age ring ditches (NHER 21839) they surround, or were at least laid out when the barrows they probably represent were still visible above ground. For example, a curvilinear trackway visible between TG 4186 1600 and TG 4183 1595 may have had some kind of relationship with the northernmost ring ditch. Other elements are almost certainly of post medieval date, including the rectilinear double ditch visible between TG 4188 1581 and TG 4195 1591,l along with other ditches with a similar or perpendicular orientation. These fit the pattern of enclosure depicted on modern and historic maps, e.g. (S4), and may have been associated with the layout of Ashby Hall (NHER 8555) and its grounds, and/or with the post medieval cottages to its north (NHER 11736). Also visible are a number of field boundaries that are depicted on Ashby Tithe Map (S5), such as that visible between TG 4196 1589 and TG 4196 1582. Between these two periods, is at least one further phase of activity, represented by a number of ditch alignments oriented northwest-to-southeast (e.g. visible from TG 4171 1598 to TG 4181 1593, and from TG 4187 1588 to TG 4197 1584) and perpendicular to this orientation. These, and other undated marks, could be associated with the former village of Ashby (NHER 11735) but there is no direct evidence of this. In addition to the various field boundaries and other linear features, a roughly rectangular pit is visible at TG 4189 1596; this has the appearance of a relatively recent feature and may have been an extraction pit or stock pond of post medieval date.

It should be noted that due to an inadequate number of control points, the cropmarks to the north of Repps Road were mapped from unrectified parts of the aerial photographs; this may have had an adverse effect on the accuracy of the mapping. The features seen in grassland at the southeast corner of the site may be visible as slight earthworks as well as vegetation marks.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 16 August 2006.