NHER 50776 (Monument record) - Site of a D-shaped enclosure of probably Iron Age and/or Roman date

January 2008. Norfolk NMP.
The cropmarks described below were previously recorded as part of NHER 4379.

A D-shaped enclosure is visible as a cropmark on aerial photographs (S1)-(S4), centred at TG 2578 1930. It is similar to enclosures mapped from aerial photographs in west Lincolnshire, which have been interpreted as possible settlements of Iron Age or Roman date (S5). A similar date and interpretation seems plausible here, although it might instead represent a stock enclosure or other agricultural feature. There is no evidence that it is a ‘banjo’ enclosure, as has previously been suggested (NHER 4379), presumably on the basis of its relationship with what appears to be a narrow trackway leading from the entrance on its west side. 'Banjo' enclosures are a very specific type of Iron Age site, often of high-status and typically found on the Wessex chalkland; the nature of the enclosure described here was almost certainly more prosaic. The site is significant in that it lies within the circuit of a Roman camp (NHER 4379). Although it shares its orientation – the west side (the 'front'?) of the enclosure being parallel to the west side of the camp – there is no evidence that the enclosure was also military in origin or directly related to the camp. Rather, the enclosure presumably pre-dates the camp, or dates to the period after it had fallen out of use, with one site taking its general orientation from the other. Given the strategic nature of most military sites, it seems more likely that the enclosure was sited in relation to the disused but still visible camp, rather than vice versa. A trackway (NHER 50777) which more or less follows the west side of the camp may be contemporary with the enclosure, as may some of the field boundaries and other linear ditches (NHER 50778) which surround it. At least some of the latter, however, appear to belong to a different phase of activity, as they overlie (or are overlain by) the north side of the enclosure.

The enclosure is approximately D-shaped in plan, and is defined by a relatively substantial ditch. It measures approximately 43m long and up to 41m wide. An entrance is clearly visible in its western side; a narrow break in its southern side may simply reflect the cropmark being masked. Pits depicted within the enclosure and in the surrounding area on the Royal Commission's transcription of the site (NMR TG 21 NE 23; Welfare and Swan 1995, fig. 58 (S6)) are of doubtful archaeological origin and have not been mapped, the background geology of the site being conducive to the formation of pit-like cropmarks.
Also see (S7)
S. Tremlett (NMP), 8 January 2008.