NHER 27115 (Cropmark and Earthwork record) - Medieval to post medieval earthwork banks and ditches

October 2002. Norfolk NMP.
A series of earthwork banks and ditches running alongside River Stiffkey, from TF 9620 4112 to TF 9674 4070, are visible on RAF aerial photographs from 1946 (S1) and Ordnance Survey aerial photographs from 1970 (S2). The site consists of possible banked trackways and drainage ditches.These features are likely to be part of the use and management of the floodplain resources and are similar to examples further upstream, which are thought to originate in the medieval period (NHER 1886). The earthworks in this area of the site are likely to be mainly medieval to post medieval features.
Running from TF 9617 4106 to TF 9629 4108 are a pair of parallel banks, both 1.5m wide and 2m apart and running in-between the two is a ditch. This may have acted as a boundary or could be related to the management of water in the river floodplain. A second banked feature runs from TF 9627 4090 to TF 9636 4097. It appears to be a bank or raised platform on either side of the river. They both vary in width from 5m to 7.5m. The western side of this feature runs alongside the parish boundary and is marked as a linear feature or trackway on the 2nd edition map (1902-7, 25”) (S3 and S4). This may have been an access route across the river, which also marked the boundary. Several other ditches run up to the river; these are likely to be drainage ditches, although the ditch running from TF 9618 4111 to TF 9618 4107 may be an extension of NHER 30410 to the north, a possible Roman site.
One or two of the other ditch sections appear to be either L-shaped or U-shaped and may be part of several possible enclosed areas, centred on TF 9652 4079, TF 9639 4084, TF 9625 4113 and TF 9668 4081. At TF 9652 4086 is a rectangular raised platform, 33.5m by 20m. This is defined to the west and north by the old river course and to the south and the east by ditches, up to 3.5m wide, the clearest of which runs east to west from TF 9650 4085 to TF 9657 4085.
S. Massey (NMP), 22 October 2002.