NHER 44973 (Cropmark and Earthwork record) - Earthworks of parallel ditches, possibly defining a driveway

August 2006. Norfolk NMP
Earthworks of parallel linear ditches of probable medieval to post medieval date are visible on aerial photographs (S1). These earthworks are centred on TM 3923 9436. Two ditch earthworks are intermittently present on a parallel west to east alignment. They are spaced up to 20m apart and extend for a distance of 250m. Although these two ditches do not directly correspond to any features on historic maps they lie either side of a footpath shown on the modern Ordnance Survey map. Faden’s 1797 Map of Norfolk (S2) shows a short avenue of trees at this location. Later an L-shaped wood is present called 'Snape Grove' on Bryant’s 1826 map (S3) and ‘Stockton Covert’ on the first edition 1 inch to the mile Ordnance Survey map of 1838 (S4). A track is shown through the wood on both of these maps, which presumably followed the same line as the modern footpath. Although the wood had largely been cleared by the time of the first edition 6 inch to the mile Ordnance Survey map of the 1880s (S5), a symmetrical group of trees had been left either side of the field entrance at its western end. Although the track itself is not shown at that date, the appearance is one of a planned landscape akin to parkland. The field survived as grassland with sparse trees in 1945 (S1). The avenue shown on Faden’s map suggests a formal driveway or landscape in the late 18th century, but there is no hall for it to be associated with. A single narrow ditch earthwork crosses the two parallel ditches and may be a field boundary.
J. Albone (NMP), 17 August 2006

December 2011.
Google Earth imagery from 2006 shows this feature has been ploughed level.
K. Powell (HES), 9 December 2011.