NHER 50600 (Monument record) - Site of D-shaped enclosure, perhaps of Iron Age to Roman date

OF THE CROPMARKS DESCRIBED BELOW, ONLY THE D-SHAPED ENCLOSURE IS STILL RECORDED UNDER THIS NUMBER. THE REMAINDER ARE RECORDED AS PART OF NHER 50802.

Formerly recorded under NHER 17223.

4 June 1980 and 1981. NAU air photography.
Cropmarks.
Positive cropmarks of subrectangular enclosure.
Plus various associated linear and curvilinear features.
D. Edwards (NAU), 11 March 1981.

1982.
D. Edwards suggests this may be Iron Age in date.
E. Rose (NAU), 3 June 1982.

14 June 1996. NLA air photography.
Cropmarks of a D-shaped enclosure with two entrances still visible.
Some of the linears may relate to military activity to the north (NHER 13550), although the enclosure looks late prehistoric in date.
S. Massey (NLA), 7 August 2001.

19 June 1996. NLA air photography.
Cropmarks of large D-shaped enclosure still visible.
The southwest edge of the enclosure intersects with a linear feature which appears to be part of a field system visible in field to the west.
Although it is hard to be sure, the enclosure looks like the earliest element to this site.
S. Massey (NLA), 13 August 2001.

28 June 1996. NLA air photography.
Cropmarks of D-shaped enclosure still visible.
S. Massey (NLA), 28 September 2001.

January 2008. Norfolk NMP.
Of the cropmarks described above, only the D-shaped enclosure is still recorded under this number. The remainder are recorded as part of NHER 50802.

The large D-shaped enclosure described above is visible as a cropmark on aerial photographs (S1)-(S7), centred at TG 2624 1479. It forms part of a complex area of multi-period cropmarks (NHER 50802), for most of which a later prehistoric to Roman date can be postulated. The enclosure is undated, but prehistoric worked flints, two Roman coins and a fragment of medieval pottery (NHER 41871 and 17223) have been found in its vicinity. Further material ranging in date from the Neolithic to the post medieval period has been recovered from the wider area surrounding it. Its function is also unknown. The enclosure’s southeast edge is joined to or formed by a sinuous trackway, which continues to the northeast. In its relationship with this trackway, it is reminiscent of the smaller, rectilinear enclosures found attached to field boundaries and trackways in an extensive group of coaxial field systems of probable Iron Age and/or Roman date identified over large areas of the uplands of Norfolk’s Broads zone (Albone et al. 2007 (S8)). While it is considerably larger than those recorded by the NMP in the Broads, it is within the range recorded in association with similar field systems in North Nottinghamshire and South Yorkshire, although those with an area greater than 0.2ha were in a minority (Riley 1980 (S9), p 31). Given its morphology and size, a similar date is plausible for the enclosure described here. A possible second enclosure (NHER 36451), which appears to lie on a continuation of the same trackway to the southwest, may be a contemporary feature, as may other elements of the multi-phase cropmarks visible in this and surrounding fields. Others slight the enclosure’s ditch circuit, but whether they represent earlier land divisions or later phases of activity and enclosure is not clear.

The enclosure is a regular D-shape in plan, defined by a relatively substantial and dark-toned ditch. It measures up to 130m long and 82m wide, giving an area of approximately 1ha. It has one relatively clear entrance centrally located in its southeast side, with possibly a second facing southwest. The presence (or otherwise) of gaps or entrances where it meets the trackway at its northeastern and southern corners is not clear, as the cropmarks show differently on different photographs.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 25 January 2008.