NHER 45096 (Monument record) - Site of undated enclosures and/or field system

October 2006. Norfolk NMP.
The cropmarks described below were previously part of NHER 24982.

A cluster of enclosures and/or part of a field system is visible as cropmarks on aerial photographs (S1)-(S3), centred at TG 4072 1826. It comprises a rectilinear arrangement of small enclosures, principally defined by a number of long, slightly sinuous boundaries or trackways oriented northwest to southeast. The latter are reminiscent of a possible post-Roman field system identified at Hemsby (NHER 27340) but the closely spaced cross ditches are not evident at this other site. Consequently, the date of the site described here remains unknown. It clearly pre-dates the field boundaries depicted on historic maps, such as Ludham Tithe Map (S4), parts of which are also visible as cropmarks (recorded as part of NHER 45072).

The group of enclosures or field system is visible across an area measuring approximately 265m by 210m. It may have once extended further to the north; ditches with a similar orientation visible in the adjacent field have been recorded as part of NHER 45072. The enclosures vary in size and shape, but they are all rectilinear. Overall, a subdivided enclosure at TG 4071 1828 measures 53.5m long and 25.5m wide. A smaller enclosure at TG 4071 1825 measures 26m long and 21m wide. Several possible entrances are apparent across the site, but these are difficult to distinguish with any certainty from breaks in the cropmarks caused by masking.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 12 October 2006.