NHER 49313 (Cropmark and Earthwork record) - The cropmarks of undated and multi-period field boundaries

March 2007. Norfolk NMP.
The cropmarks of a group of multi-period ditches, probably former field boundaries, are visible on aerial photographs to the east of Catfield village (S1). Elements of these cropmarks are likely to be Roman and post medieval in date. The site is centred on TG 3831 2197.

The site clearly consists of more than one phase of field boundaries. At TG 3814 2193 an elongated rectangular enclosure is visible, 53m by up to 155m (S1), although it is likely that this is an agricultural enclosure or field, rather than a domestic enclosure. At TG 3807 2205 is a small, incomplete trapezoidal enclosure, 12m by 19m.

The majority of the ditches mapped are aligned roughly NW-SE or NE-SW and are likely to be the remains of former field boundaries. It is possible that many of these, particularly the more continuous of the features, are post medieval in date and are reminiscent of the field boundaries visible to the immediate north (NHER 49321), which were clearly marked on the 1841 Sutton Tithe map. No comparable map was available at the time of recording for the Catfield parish, so it is hard to decipher whether many of the field boundaries mapped are also post medieval in date.

However it must also be noted that a Roman coin has been found in the vicinity of these cropmarks (NHER 22232) and this may indicate an earlier date for these field boundaries. Similarly aligned, but significantly more fragmentary, field boundaries have been interpreted as being of possible Iron Age to Roman date to the northwest (NHER 43911) and to the south (NHER 43916). Roman finds are associated with the latter site.
S. Massey (NMP), 30 March 2007.