NHER 44909 (Monument record) - Cropmarks of an enclosure of unknown date, but possibly Roman date

August 2006. Norfolk NMP.
The cropmarks of an elongated rectilinear enclosure of unknown, but possibly Roman date are visible on aerial photographs to the east of Lily Lane, Aldeby (S1-S2). The date of this enclosure is suggested by the shared alignment with an excavated ditch containing Roman material to the immediate west (NHER 34099) (S4). Although the excavations also revealed a wealth of Middle Iron Age industrial activity, plus possible evidence for Early Saxon occupation (S4). The site is centred on TM 4587 9296 and is located within the extraction area of Aldeby Quarry and has therefore been destroyed.

The enclosure, centred on TM 4590 9295, is elongated and broadly oblong in shape, 65m long and 38m wide at the western end and with a tapered eastern end, 21m. A boundary ditch abuts up to this enclosure to the south and a ditch runs roughly parallel to the north. Another parallel ditch is located 50m to the west of the enclosure and is probably contemporary. The long axis of the elongated enclosure is roughly NW-SE and many of the associated ditches also follow this alignment. This shared alignment between the cropmarks and the excavated Roman ditch to the west (NHER 34099) would probably imply that the features are broadly contemporary.
S. Massey (NMP), 15 August 2006.