NHER 45007 (Cropmark and Earthwork record) - Earthworks and cropmarks of medieval to post medieval crofts

August 2006. Norfolk NMP
Earthworks and cropmarks of crofts, enclosures and ditches of medieval to post medieval date are visible on aerial photographs (S1-S3). These earthworks and cropmarks are centred on TM 3688 9298. A group of rectilinear enclosures are present on roughly north to south alignments. The enclosures in the southern part of the group have long narrow plans measuring up to 164m long by 21m wide. They are partly defined to the north by a broad ditch that continues to the west as modern field boundary, although the earthworks suggest that the enclosures extended up to 12m to its north at some time. The road to the south of these enclosures follows the parish boundary between Kirby Cane and Ellingham and is shown as the northern edge of ‘Ellingham, Kirby Cane and Geldestone Common’ on Faden’s 1797 Map of Norfolk (S4). It is likely that these enclosures are strip plots of crofts to the rear of medieval properties fronting onto the road. They are similar in form to burgage plots found on urban sites. They form part of a group of such enclosures along the northern edge of the common that continue further to the west (NHER 17335, 45006). Sections of linear ditch earthwork, presumably of a later date, sub-divide and cut across the enclosures. Further sections of ditch earthwork of medieval to post medieval date are present to the north of the enclosures. The field containing the earthworks in the eastern part of the group had been taken into arable cultivation by 1984 (S5) and the Kirby Cane bypass was constructed through the site in 1988. Pottery of medieval and post medieval date was found in this area during fieldwalking prior to the bypass construction (NHER 24867-8)
J. Albone (NMP), 23 August 2006