NHER 52365 (Cropmark and Earthwork record) - Cropmarks of post medieval banks and undated linear ditches

October 2009. Norfolk NMP.
A linear bank feature is visible as a cropmark on aerial photographs (S1)-(S4), together with a number of linear ditch features, centred at TG 1741 1778. Several of these linear ditch features are rather faint and ephemeral, and may actually relate to geological, rather than archaeological features.
There appear to be two linear banks, at right angles to one another, stretching 166m to the south east and 206m to the south west from the point at which they meet, TG 1752 1824. The south-western arm is depicted as a tree line on the Ordnance Survey 1st edition map (S6), but is not visible on the Felthorpe Tithe Map (S7), and it is therefore possible that both these features are post medieval in date.
Some of the faint linear ditches appear to be earlier than these two banks, such as those that appear to be cut by them at TG 1748 1821. Whilst it is difficult to be certain of their nature, as they may be geological features, it is possible that they represent an earlier phase on the site, as, for the most part, they do not correspond with the alignment of fields on the historic maps. They do not seem to share the alignment of the possible Roman period ditches to the north (NHER 52364), and have therefore tentatively been assigned a medieval date. However, at least one of the linear ditches, running from TG 1753 1798 to TG 1733 1760 does appear to share an alignment with those to the north, and may therefore represent a fragment of Roman period field system.
Both the ditches and the bank features on the site are cut by a modern pipeline trench passing across the site from TG 1716 1774 to TG 1744 1831 via TG 1733 1789.
E. Bales (NMP), October 2009.