NHER 50727 (Monument record) - Site of undated settlement on Rackheath and Salhouse parish boundary

December 2007. Norfolk NMP.
A probable settlement of unknown date is visible as cropmarks on aerial photographs (S1), centred at TG 2944 1431. The site is evident as a linear arrangement of rectilinear enclosures ranged along a double-ditched trackway or road. (The latter is now followed by the parish boundary between Rackheath and Salhouse for part of its length.) What may be further elements of the settlement have been identified to the north (NHER 29575) and south (NHER 50728, 50729 and 50730), but the cropmarks described here are the most indicative of its form and function. A late medieval or early post medieval date seems possible, and would explain its apparent conformity with the modern field pattern and parish boundary, although the location of Dakenham Hall at its southern end might merely be confusing, as this house does not appear to be shown on Faden’s 1797 Map of Norfolk (S2) (it is shown by Bryant (S3)). The site may have occupied a former common-edge position in relation to Mousehold Heath to its southeast, while the road or track perhaps led across or around the heath towards the river crossing at Wroxham, 3.5km to the north. To its south, the settlement and trackway perhaps joined with Ravensgate Way (NHER 8127), a former road crossing Mousehold Heath, which is depicted on a map of 1585 (reproduced schematically in (S4)). Alternatively, given its similarity to sites mapped in Lincolnshire (S5) and elsewhere, a late prehistoric to Roman date is also plausible. Finds recovered from the vicinity (e.g. NHER 40113) range in date from the prehistoric to post medieval periods.

The site is visible for 900m north to south, and crosses various areas of other cropmarks of different dates, at least some of which (e.g. NHER 50726) it is likely to post-date. A number of subsidiary boundaries, and in one case (at TG 2916 1406) a probable trackway, appear to meet the main trackway or road at a right angle. There is some variation in the size and shape of the enclosures, although they are all broadly rectilinear in plan. Using the parish boundary as its eastern side, the northernmost enclosure (at TG 2944 1474) measures 44m by 36.5m, for example, while that at TG 2934 1420 measures 63m by 27m; that latter appears to be subdivided and encloses a large, pit-like feature which is not necessarily of the same date.
Also see (S6)
S. Tremlett (NMP), 10 December 2007.