NHER 44979 (Monument record) - Cropmarks of ring ditch

August 2006. Norfolk NMP.
The cropmarks of a small ring ditch are visible on aerial photographs to the north of Burgh Road, Wheatacre (S1). The ring ditch is centred on TM 4691 9471 and is 5.5m in diameter (S1). This ring ditch is located within an area of enclosures, fields and trackways of unknown, but possible Roman or medieval date (NHER 44984). It is likely that this small ring ditch represents the drip-eave gully of a roundhouse. Other ring ditches of this size have been identified within similar enclosure contexts nearby (NHER 12139, 16005) and these were assumed to be the remains of either small roundhouses or huts or perhaps agricultural features such as stack stands contemporary with the surrounding fields.

Another possibility is that it is the remains of a small round barrow, potentially of Middle to Late Bronze Age date. Other larger round barrows are located to the immediate south (NHER 44879, 44977-8, 44982), although this feature is removed slightly from the group and appears not be associated.
S. Massey (NMP), 18 August 2006.