NHER 52430 (Cropmark and Earthwork record) - Cropmarks of a C-shaped ring ditch

December 2009. Norfolk NMP.
The cropmarks of a C-shaped ring ditch, possibly represent the remains of late Neolithic to Bronze Age funerary and/or ceremonial monument, are visible on aerial photographs on a slight promontory of higher land in Howe (S1). The site is centred on TG 2734 0037. The monument forms part of a linear Bronze Age barrow cemetery (NHER 52421), see this record for a wider discussion of the group.
The site appears to be a C-shaped ditch, 24m across, with slightly bulbous terminals, with the ditch widening from 1.5m to 4m. Due to the position of the site close to the road, it is impossible to be certain whether a further opposing or continuing ditch segment has been destroyed by the construction of the road. Similar C-shaped ditches with bulbous terminals have been identified within Bronze Age funerary and cemetery contexts in Norfolk, for example NHER 38501 and NHER 50815. It is not clear whether they represent a type of barrow, although no traces of associated mounds have been found to date and no traces of an earthwork or cropmark internal mound were detected on the aerial photographs at this site, despite other barrows showing as earthworks. It is possible given the bulbous terminals that they have more in common with the hengiform monument tradition of the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age.
S. Horlock (NMP), 29 December 2009.