NHER 50775 (Cropmark and Earthwork record) - Site of probable prehistoric ring ditch

January 2008. Norfolk NMP.
The ring ditch described below was previously recorded as part of NHER 4379. It is visible as a cropmark on aerial photographs (S1)-(S4), centred at TG 2559 1941. Its date and function are difficult to ascertain, as it lies close to the site of Horstead Roman camp (NHER 4379), and the possible Iron Age or Roman date enclosure (NHER 50776), trackway (NHER 50777) and field boundaries (NHER 50778) with which the camp (and in the case of the latter the ring ditch) is co-located. Consequently, the possibility that it might be associated with one or more of these other sites, perhaps representing a round house or similar feature, is difficult to rule out, particularly given its small size. Given its topographic setting, however, overlooking a tributary of the River Bure 195m to its north, with a second, larger ring ditch (NHER 50756) – interpreted as the site of a round barrow – on the northern bank, an origin as a Bronze Age funerary monument seems a more probable interpretation.
The ring ditch is circular in plan and measures 12m in diameter. A circular pit-like feature visible within it could be of geological origin, but as it appears to be centrally placed it has been mapped, and may contain a burial or other significant deposit.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 7 January 2008.