NHER 44885 (Monument record) - Oval enclosure of possible late prehistoric date

August 2006. Norfolk NMP.
The cropmarks of a possible oval enclosure of probable late prehistoric date are visible on aerial photographs to the south of Hall Farm, Burgh St Peter (S1-S2). Some sections of the enclosing ditch are interrupted or causewayed and it is possible that this site is a Neolithic causewayed enclosure, although this interpretation must be applied with caution on the basis of the current aerial photograph evidence. The enclosure appears to be defined by interrupted ditch sections to the west and south and more continuous sections of ditch to the north and east. The site is centred on TM 4848 9361.

Two, possibly three, other probable causewayed enclosures have been identified in Norfolk (NHER 7690, 13358, 36398). These are all near-circular in plan and are the largest two of the three both measure approximately 100m across (NHER 7690 and 13358). If this site at Burgh St Peter is also a Neolithic enclosure then the oval plan differs significantly from the other examples. However nationally an oval shape is quite common for Neolithic enclosures (S3; p58-60). The size of the enclosure, 110m by 75m, is quite small by national standards, but as illustrated above, this is not out of character for a Norfolk example and may reflect a regional trend.

The enclosure is located on the lower slopes of the valley side, which borders the now flat expanse of the Waveney Valley floor to the north. This enclosure is located to the immediate east of a minor coomb coming in from the valley. During the Mesolithic areas of fen had developed on the valley floors in the Broads region, followed the gradual penetration of tidal conditions during the Neolithic period, up to 20km inland (S4; p123), until about BC 3000, when fen conditions gradually returned on the middle reaches of the valleys. Tidal conditions then returned during the Bronze Age and Iron Age, with the open estuary existing by the later Iron Age (S5; p11-12). Depending on the actual age of the enclosure it is therefore possible that this site was located overlooking either an area of fen or the inner reaches of a tidal estuary, with the valley floor being much lower than today. The positioning of Neolithic causewayed enclosures on valley sides is quite common, often overlooking the valleys of rivers or streams (S3; p96-7).

These cropmarks sit within a wider spread of multi-phase cropmarks, see NHER 44886 for details. This possible enclosure is located in-between two probable Bronze Age round barrows (NHER 44882-3). This juxtaposition of barrows and causewayed enclosures is quite common (S3; p137). Other groups of enclosures and fields have been recorded to the immediate west (NHER 44880-1) and have been interpreted as being Iron Age to Roman in date. If this group of curvilinear ditch segments does represent an actual enclosure then it would seem likely to be earlier than the majority of the cropmarks in this area.

This possible enclosure is suggested by a series of curvilinear ditch segments, single and double, which could represent interrupted ditches defining an oval enclosure, measuring 110m by 75m. Some of the ditches defining the western part of the possible enclosure, centred on TM 4845 9361, appear much broader than the remainder and are up to 2.5m across (S1). These ditches appear to form short, 12-18m, sections, with clear causeways in-between. To the north and southeast of these clearer ditches are a series of narrower ditch segments, which possibly continue to define the edge of an enclosure. Although one of these ditches, at TM 4845 9357, is slightly more curved and therefore does not appear to follow the same trajectory as the other interrupted ditch segments.

The northern part of the enclosure is possibly defined by a 50m long section of ditch, which curves around to the southeast. Two roughly parallel ditches, 35-40m long, may define the possible eastern extent of the enclosure, running from approximately TM 4851 9362 to TM 4851 9358 and 5m apart (S2).

This variation in the character and length of these ditches and the occasional diversions from the ‘expected’ trajectory or plan of the site, could indicate that not all of these ditches are contemporary and the apparent oval arrangement may be a fortuitous product of a palimpsest of ditches. However it is not uncommon for Neolithic enclosures to have irregular shaped circuits and varying styles of ditches (S3; p35-6) and it is probably partially due to the episodic re-digging of the ditch segments. It also is possible that the longer, less causewayed eastern and northern ditches relate to another phase of the site entirely. Not all causewayed enclosures had a complete and enclosing ditch circuit (S3; p 63-4), some potentially just had one arc of interrupted ditch segments.
S. Massey (NMP), 07 August 2006.