NHER 45008 (Landscape record) - Bronze Age round barrow cemetery

August 2006. Norfolk NMP.
Cropmarks of ring ditches of Bronze Age round barrows forming a dispersed barrow cemetery are visible on aerial photographs. This is a group record comprising 14 ring ditch cropmarks (NHER 12829-31, 43337, 43346-7). The cemetery is dispersed and has a roughly north to south aligned linear plan extending for 1.23km. The central part of the cemetery is focussed on a group of 7 ring ditch cropmarks at TF 7348 3778 (NHER 12829). These are located at approximately 47m OD on the northwest facing slope of a small headland or spur of higher ground. It overlooks the point at which a small dry valley divides to its northeast and south. A single ring ditch cropmark (NHER 43337), marking the southern limit of the cemetery, lies at the head of the southern fork in the valley. Three single ring ditch cropmarks are present to the north of the central group (NHER 12830, 43346-7). These are located across the northeastern fork in the small valley. The northeastern valley fork divides again and has three small ring ditch cropmarks located at its northern limit (NHER 12831). Further ring ditch cropmarks to the east (NHER 11902, 43317), southeast (NHER 43321) and northwest (NHER 43353) may be outliers from this cemetery.
J. Albone (NMP), 23 August 2006.

April 2026. Northwest Norfolk Aerial Investigation and Mapping (AI&M) Project (volunteer strand).
Mounds marking the probable sites of Bronze Age round barrows forming part of the dispersed cemetery described above are visible as earthworks on visualised lidar data (S1). Some of the mounds correspond with the location of previously recorded ring ditches (NHER 12829-31) while others are new to the record (NHER 12829, 12831, 69378-81, 69385). The new discoveries have extended the extent of the cemetery to the north and northwest. It is notable that much of the area occupied by the cemetery is shown as rough or heathy pasture on the Ordnance Survey 1st edition 6-inch map (S2) and lies adjacent to the area marked as Sedgeford Common on Faden’s 1797 Map of Norfolk (S3). This may have contributed to the preservation of the barrows, and/or they may have been sited on land that was already heathland and not required for arable cultivation. As the lidar survey was flown relatively recently it is possible that any earthworks identified on the visualisations still survive.
S. Tremlett (Norfolk Historic Environment Service), 27 April 2026.