NHER 50622 (Cropmark and Earthwork record) - Pair of possible Bronze Age round barrows

October 2007. Norfolk NMP.
The earthworks of two possible Bronze Age round barrows are visible on aerial photographs of The Warren at Lenwade (S1-S4). The site is centred on TG 1122 1813. A number of other barrows were also previously located on The Warren (NHER 7718, 7729-7730), forming a small cemetery (NHER 50646). The majority of these barrows, included the two possible examples here, have since been destroyed by aggregate extraction. These two possible barrows get destroyed through expansion of the extraction in-between 1946 and 1951 (S4-S5).

The two possible barrows are located at TG 1119 1815 and TG 1125 1811. The eastern most example is the most convincing, representing a low grass-covered dome, 28m in diameter. The western mound is less domelike in appearance and consists of a low, roughly circular raised area of ground, 22m across. This has a slightly irregular appearance and worn paths leading to and from the gravel pits may in part define the apparent edges of the mound. Both of these factors could indicate that the western earthwork is not archaeological in origin.

These barrow or barrows form part of a small cemetery (NHER 50646) located at the base of valley side slope, on the edge of the terrace of the River Wensum. This positioning of valley side and terrace edge is mirrored by another barrow group approximately 6km to the east at Sparham (NHER 30639). These barrows at Lenwade are likely to have originally formed part of a dispersed cemetery (NHER 7728) originally said to have contained up to eleven barrows on Morton Common (exact location unknown).
S. Massey (NMP), 22 October 2007.