NHER 45262 (Cropmark and Earthwork record) - Cropmarks of medieval and post medieval field boundaries and a possible woodland or common-edge boundary

November 2006. Norfolk NMP
Cropmarks of medieval and post medieval field boundaries and a possible woodland or common-edge boundary are visible on aerial photographs (S1-S2). These cropmarks are centred on TG 3496 1702. Central to this group of cropmarks are curvilinear ditches and banks defining a large enclosure. Its western side is marked by an angled ditch and bank that extends from TG 3511 1687 to TG 3491 1737. Its southern edge is formed by School Road (marked as Ferry Lane on the 1818 enclosure map (S3)). The eastern side of this enclosed area is also defined by a ditch and bank cropmark. It extends from School Road at TG 3534 1696 on a stepped course to TG 3544 1716. From this point the ditch turns westwards on a mainly straight course to TG 3522 1714 before turning north to meet Norwich Road (formerly Ludham Road (S3)) at TG 3519 1733. These ditches and banks enclose an irregular L-shaped area that measures up to 670m by 470m. Its irregular form suggests that it is an early landscape feature, possibly an area of woodland or common. However, no wood or common was shown at this location on Faden’s 1797 Map of Norfolk (S5) indicating that if one was originally present it had gone by that date. Two sections of this boundary survive on the 1818 enclosure map (S3) and 1840 tithe map (S4). These are the westernmost section of ditch between TG 3483 1704 and TG 3483 1726 and a straightened section of ditch from TG 3523 1714 to TG 3542 1717. Cropmarks of field boundaries that are of at least enclosure date (S3) extend from these ditches to the west at TG 3480 1722 and northwards from TG 3535 1715. Two parallel ditch and bank cropmarks are present on a roughly northwest to southeast alignment across the southern part of the large enclosure. They both correspond to field boundaries marked on the enclosure and tithe maps (S3-S4) and confirm that the large enclosure is of an earlier date. Other ditch and bank cropmarks of unknown date are present cutting across the large enclosure and the nineteenth century field pattern.
J. Albone (NMP), 24 November 2006.

September 2011. Trial Trenching.
The excavation of trial trenches in the north-west corner of this area located a number of field boundary ditches. The datable ditches were all either post-medieval or modern and there was little correlation between these and the previously identified cropmark features.
See report (S6) and NHER 61058 for further details.
S. Howard (HES), 6 March 2012. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 22 July 2015.