NHER 49235 (Monument record) - Possible saltern mounds

October 2006. Norfolk NMP.
The earthworks of a group of possible late Saxon to medieval date saltern mounds are visible on aerial photographs on the edge of the Belton marshes (S1-S2). The site is centred on TG 4694 0240. These mounds are located on the edge of the former tidal estuary and it is possible that these represent mounds of salt production waste. Another group of mounds are located to the immediate west (NHER 49236). It is possible that a tidal creek fed the saltworks, as this part of the marsh would have been silted up by the medieval period. A building now stands on one of the mounds. This does not appear to be of any great antiquity, as it is not marked on the 1838 Belton Tithe map (S3).

The mounds vary in size and shape and have a fairly amorphous plan, similar to those mound of salt production waste recorded within the Wash, although these Belton examples are much smaller in size. The largest of the mounds, on which the building sits, is approximately 65m across and has a three-pronged appearance. Some of these mounds appear to form a curvilinear arrangement and this probably marks the edge of a former tidal creek, perhaps the source of the saline water and briny silts.
S. Massey (NMP), 23 October 2006.