NHER 50781 (Cropmark and Earthwork record) - Earthworks of trackway and other features, possibly a hollow way associated with deserted settlement of Stanninghall

January 2008. Norfolk NMP.
A trackway is visible as earthworks on aerial photographs (S1)-(S2), between TG 2551 1730 and TG 2552 1717. It is also depicted on the Ordnance Survey 1st edition 6 inch map (S3). It could therefore be a track of relatively recent origin and low archaeological significance, which would normally not be mapped by the NMP. The substantial nature of the earthworks, however, and their proximity to Stanninghall church (NHER 44213) and deserted medieval village (NHER 8059), which lie little more than 100m to the north, suggests a potential medieval origin, possibly as a hollow way.
The trackway is visible for some 135m as the earthworks of a ditch. (It is obscured by a tree at TG 2552 1719.) Short sections of flanking banks are visible towards its southern end. At a point just north of midway along its length (at TG 2551 1724), the earthworks of a crossing track, boundary or pit are visible, orientated at an angle perpendicular to the main trackway. The photographs of the site taken in 1990 (S2) indicate that the northern half of the site has been levelled, but on the southern part earthworks could still remain.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 9 January 2008.