NHER 49641 (Monument record) - Hales Green and associated earthworks

July 2007. Norfolk NMP.
Hales Green, centred at TM 3737 9659, is a relatively rare survival of the kind of extensive area of common once typical of Norfolk’s claylands (see Williamson 2006 (S1), for example). Several groups of earthworks survive here and are visible on aerial photographs, including (S2)-(S7). The earthworks, for the most part, correspond with houses, farmsteads and pits depicted on 19th century maps, such as the Ordnance Survey 1st edition 6 inch (S8), and consequently have not been mapped by the NMP. Other earthworks and/or vegetation marks appear to be of recent agricultural origin. Towards the southern end of the green a possible area of post medieval ridge and furrow is visible on aerial photographs taken in 1971 (S3). Although its extent and orientation has been mapped by the NMP, it is only visible on aerial photographs from a single year and its archaeological significance must be regarded as doubtful; it might instead be the product of modern agricultural activity.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 30 July 2007.