NHER 52036 (Cropmark and Earthwork record) - Cropmark of possible Bronze Age ring ditch or hengiform monument

December 2006-January 2007. Geophysical Survey.
Magnetometry survey on proposed line of Norwich Northern Distributor Route (Area 5).
This survey identified a substantial ring-ditch at this location. A discrete anomaly within the ring-ditch may represent some form of pit or other associated feature.
See report (S8) and NHER 49758 for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 3 April 2018.

October 2007. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of site on proposed line of Norwich Northern Distributor Route (Phase 2).
A trench excavated across the eastern side of the ring-ditch identified a substantial ditch that was 5.7m wide and at least 2m deep. The only finds were several medieval pottery sherds recovered from its uppermost fill. A substantial pit-like feature at the centre of the ring-ditch was also investigated, although its nature remains uncertain. It appeared to have been deliberately backfilled and produced medieval pottery sherds, lava quern fragments and a hone stone. It is possible that this feature resulted from later disturbance of this probable barrow monument. The size of the ring-ditch and its location on the brow of a low hill overlooking the Yare valley suggest that it may well have been the remains of a Bronze Age round barrow. Nevertheless, the presence of medieval material within both the ring-ditch itself and (perhaps more significantly) the central pit raises the possibility that it was a later feature. In particular it should be noted that neither its overall size nor the pennanular form suggested by the cropmark evidence (see below) would preclude it from having been a windmill mound.
See report (S6) and NHER 49758 for further details.
Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 3 April 2018.

April 2009. Norfolk NMP.
A cropmark of a possible Bronze Age ring ditch was visible on aerial photographs (S1)–(S5), centred on TG 2929 0868. It measured approximately 20m in diameter, and although only half of the feature was visible, it seems likely that it represented a ring ditch. An apparent break on the southwest side of the ditch circuit is as likely to reflect the cropmark being masked, as it is the presence of a genuine entrance or causeway.
Evaluation work by NAU Archaeology (NHER 49758) confirmed the presence of a ring-ditch on the site (S6), although its date could not be established. The feature was thought to have been open for a long time before medieval material, the only datable finds from the feature, came to be incorporated into its upper fills. The presence of a large pit large feature at the centre of the ring ditch, also containing medieval material, suggests that any contemporary internal features have been significantly disturbed or destroyed.
While not all ring-ditches are round barrows, the size and location of the ring-ditch, on the brow of a low promontory overlooking the Yare valley, sited 500m to the east from a group of three possible Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age ring ditches (NHER 21766) makes it very likely that it represents a burial monument from this period, although its archaeological origin is in doubt.
It is possible that this feature represents a C-shaped hengiform monument, such as that at Roughton (NHER 38501), and is not, in fact, a round barrow. It is similar in form to that at Roughton, consisting of a narrow ditch (c. 1.6m wide) with bulbous terminals (up to 3.3m in width) although its isolated location makes unusual. A comparable feature has been identified at Wormingford in Essex (S7, fig. 5).
E. Bales (NMP), 6 April 2009.