NHER 50704 (Cropmark and Earthwork record) - Cropmarks of ring ditches of three Bronze Age round barrows

November 2007. Norfolk NMP
Cropmarks of three ring ditches relating to Bronze Age round barrows are visible on aerial photographs (S1-S10). These ring ditches are located at the site of the Spong Hill and were previously recorded as part of that site (NHER 1012). A large number of aerial photographs showing the cropmarks of these ring ditches are held in the Norfolk Air Photo Library. The sources listed below represent a selection that show the cropmarks most clearly.

The largest of the three ring ditches is a double ring ditch which is located in the centre of the group. It has a 6.5m wide outer ditch with a slightly sub-circular plan and an external diameter of 44m. The narrow inner ditch, which also has a sub-circular plan, has an external diameter of 22m. This ring ditch forms the meeting point for three post medieval field boundaries (NHER 1012). It is likely that its associated barrow survived as an earthwork into the post medieval period. Located 95m to the south of this ring ditch is another smaller single ring ditch. It has a sub-circular plan with a 2m wide ditch and an external diameter of 22m. The third ring ditch in the group is located 105m to the northwest of the double ring ditch. It has a circular plan with a 3m wide ditch and an external diameter of 30m. It is likely that all three of these ring ditches are of Bronze Age date and that they relate to round barrows. On some aerial photographs the interior of the inner ring of the double ring ditch and the southern ring ditch appear as a patchy positive cropmark. This appears to suggest a greater depth of soil within these two ring ditches, perhaps indicating that part of their barrow mounds survive as very low earthworks. However, this detail was not consistently visible and was not mapped.

These three barrows are located along the highest point of a north to south aligned ridge (Spong Hill) and form the centre of a dispersed barrow cemetery (NHER 50705). The Spong Hill Anglo Saxon cemetery was located at the southern end of the ridge and it is likely that it was focussed on this group of three round barrows. Anglo Saxon cemeteries are frequently focussed on, or located in close proximity to, Bronze Age round barrows (S11).
J. Albone (NMP), 27 November 2007.

February 2008. Norfolk Aggregates Assessment Project.
The largest and most elaborate of this group still survives as a slight earthwork. (Information from A. Rogerson, NLA.)
S. Tremlett (NLA), 28 February 2008.