NHER 49572 (Cropmark and Earthwork record) - Cropmarks of trackway, field boundaries and possible enclosure, mostly of post medieval date

June 2007. Norfolk NMP.
The cropmarks of an undated enclosure, ditches and field boundaries are visible on aerial photographs to the south of dismantled railway line at Strumpshaw (S1). The site is centred on TG 3436 0780. It seems likely that these cropmarks represent several phases of activity, some of which may be late prehistoric to Roman in date, whilst others may represent medieval to post medieval boundaries. Any obviously post medieval elements, such as those corresponding with boundaries marked on the Tithe and Ordnance Survey maps, were omitted from the NMP mapping.

To the northeast of the site is a possible rectilinear enclosure, with either a double ditch or a trackway defining the northern extent. This enclosure appears to have measured 61m by at least 55m, although the cropmarks of this feature are fragmentary and the entire site is not visible. The enclosure ditches are aligned broadly northeast-southwest and northwest-southeast, as are other fragmentary ditches mapped, which are likely to be contemporary. These components of the site are likely to be associated with a dispersed group of enclosures and fields recorded to the northeast (NHER 49571) and these have been interpreted as being of possible late prehistoric to Roman date.

The edges of some of the cropmarks to the west of the site are quite indistinct and blurred and it is possibly that they has been created by recent agricultural activity, rather than being of definite archaeological origin, in particular the two linear features closest to the railway line.
S. Massey (NMP) 23 June 2007.

October 2021. Broads Hidden Heritage: Aerial Perspectives.
Many of the cropmarks described above, together with additional elements, are visible on Google Earth photographs from 2006 (S2). A sinuous trackway and various field boundaries are visible, and the Monument polygon defining the extent of the site has been expanded to fully incorporate these [1]. In many cases they correspond with features depicted on Strumpshaw Enclosure Map (S3), and the cropmarks appear to represent the post medieval landscape prior to the construction of the railway. Most elements are therefore likely to be of post medieval date, although a medieval origin is feasible for some. There is little evidence that any of the features visible on the Google Earth photographs is of late prehistoric or Roman date, as suggested for some of the cropmarks described above. The possible enclosure identified by this earlier work may instead be the sinuous trackway visible on the Google Earth photographs, and broad parallel ditches that could relate to former strip fields.
S. Tremlett (Norfolk County Council, Historic Environment Service), 25 October 2021.