NHER 49381 (Cropmark and Earthwork record) - Cropmarks of a field system and road or trackway

May 2007. Norfolk NMP
Cropmarks of a road and rectilinear field system of possible late Iron Age to Roman date are visible on aerial photographs (S1-S2). These cropmarks are centred on TG 4019 0469. Cropmarks of a road or trackway are intermittently present on a north-west to south-east alignment. It is partly defined by parallel ditched, spaced between 3m and 7m apart. The central section of this road is present as a broad positive cropmark, possibly indicating a partial hollow way at that point. These cropmarks appear to continue the alignment of a road visible as cropmarks further to the south-east (NHER 49383, 11841 and 30617). Adjoining the south-west side of the road are cropmarks of a group of field boundaries. This field system comprises of large rectilinear and polygonal fields incorporating at least two smaller enclosures. The field boundary cropmarks are fragmentary making it difficult to determine the exact size and shape of many of the fields. A polygonal, roughly wedge-shaped, field in the western part of the group measures 112m long by at least 93m wide. It adjoins to rectilinear fields that appear to measure approximately 100m by 80m in plan. A trapezoidal enclosure, with dimensions of 50m by 40m, is present in the angle between these fields at TG 4011 0476. A second enclosure is attached to one of the field boundaries at TG 4034 0454. It has an elongated rectilinear D-shaped plan and dimensions of 52m by 46m. It is possible that these enclosures had a specific function within the field system and they could have related to settlement activity. The north-west to south-east alignment and general appearance of this field system is similar to other field system cropmarks to the north-west (NHER 6096), east (NHER 21271) and south-east (NHER 11841). It is likely that they all form part of the same group of broadly contemporary planned fields. The more regular ‘brickwork pattern’ elements present elsewhere in these field systems suggest that they are likely to be of late Iron Age to Roman date. The cropmarks at the present site overlap a group of enclosures possibly a farmstead (NHER 49382) which may relate to an earlier phase of Iron Age or Roman activity. They are also overlain by undated and medieval to post medieval field and common-edge boundary ditch cropmarks (NHER 21818).
J. Albone (NMP), 04 May 2007