NHER 45229 (Cropmark and Earthwork record) - Cropmarks of enclosures and fragmentary field boundaries of possible late prehistoric to Roman date

October 2006. Norfolk NMP.
The cropmarks of enclosures, trackways and fragmentary field boundaries of possible late prehistoric to Roman date are visible on aerial photographs covering a large area in-between the Beccles Road and Browston Lane to the southwest of Browston Hall (S1-S7). This site extends as far north as Cherry Lane. Cropmarks following a similar alignment to the north have been recorded under NHER 45175, in fact a number of these features recorded within this site can be seen to continue to the north of the Lane. The cropmarks have been split into two areas for recording purposes due to the size of the sites and the dispersed nature of the cropmarks. These cropmarks are also located within an extremely complex area of multi-phase cropmarks, many of which are undated and recorded under NHER 45213. The site is centred on TG 4932 0153.

The arrangement and alignment of these ditches and field boundaries is also similar to those recorded under NHER 45215, 47175 and 45263 to the north and 45188 to the east, which have also both been interpreted as being late prehistoric to Roman in date. A major land boundary or road appears to cut across these fields and enclosures to the north (NHER 45175) and this has been interpreted possibly being Roman in origin, although this is not certain and it may be medieval to post medieval in date, see NHER 43591 for discussion. A large field system associated with this road (NHER 43592) appear to overlie these more fragmentary field boundaries on the western part of this site, in particular to the south of Crossways Farm.
A trackway (NHER 45178) runs through the northeastern corner of this site and this has been interpreted as being late prehistoric in date and possibly part of a system of prehistoric trackways to the east, see NHER 43544 for discussion. This trackway appears to follow a similar alignment to the fragmentary field boundaries recorded under this site and the two groups of features may be broadly contemporary.

At TG 4913 0154 is a possible enclosure, approximately 63m by 45m, although the cropmarks are quite faint and fragmentary (S3). The southeastern boundary of this possible enclosure appears to be defined by a double ditch and this may be a trackway. A similarly aligned and spaced double ditched linear feature to the southwest (S6) may represent part of the same feature. Many of the linears features recorded under this site are double ditched, such as TG 4916 0172, TG 4956 0138, TG 4970 0114, TG 4934 0128 and TG 4882 0135. This may indicate that a series of paths and droveways ran alongside the fields. The fragmentary nature of the site makes it hard to provide an assessment of overall average field size and pattern.

The site appears to represent more than one phase of boundary construction and enclosures, as some of the ditches overlie other elements, in particular centred on TG 4950 0147. However the majority of the ditches are aligned NW-SE or NE-SW, suggesting that they are broadly part of the same phase or represent the development of the same system of fields and boundaries over a considerable period, with the general alignments persisting even though particular elements go out of use and are replaced in a piecemeal fashion.

Within the southwestern part of the site are several small enclosures, at TG 4887 0135, TG 4894 0136 and TG 4911 0161 (S4). The smallest of these is 8m across and the largest is 17m by 12m. The small size of these areas would indicate a land use other than agricultural fields, such as small paddocks or stock enclosures.
S. Massey (NMP), 23 October 2006.

November-December 2017. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of proposed development site adjacent to Cherry Lane.
Although the three trenches excavated coincided with a least one of the fragmentary linear cropmarks in this group no corresponding sub-surface remains were identified.
See report (S8) and NHER 62658 for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 13 April 2018.

March 2023. Assessment of the Character and Significance of East Anglian Field Systems project.
The site described above was included in the dataset analysed for the Historic England-funded Assessment of East Anglian Field Systems project. See the project report (S9) for further details.
S. Tremlett (Norfolk County Council Environment Team), 22 March 2023.