NHER 53665 (Cropmark and Earthwork record) - Cropmarks and earthworks of predominantly medieval to post medieval date in Great Melton park

June 2010. Norfolk NMP.
The cropmarks and earthworks described below were previously recorded as part of NHER 16258 and 21294.
Earthworks and cropmarks, thought to be of predominantly medieval to post medieval date and to represent settlement, fields and roads/tracks, are visible on aerial photographs (S1)-(S12) within Great Melton park (NHER 30505), centred at TG 1375 0641. The NMP mapping has not radically altered the interpretation of the features, which are thought to principally relate to the pre-park landscape (although some may be associated with the hall, park and gardens themselves, while others could be significantly earlier); it does however demonstrate that the cropmarks and earthworks, while not necessarily entirely contemporary or identical in character, should be interpreted as part of a single, contiguous landscape.
In the southern part of the site, where earthworks have been preserved in grassland and plantation, the NMP mapping largely conforms to previous ground-based surveys of the earthwork remains (including that published in (S13)). It does not include every surveyed feature, nor are features necessarily represented in as much detail, but no major discrepancies where identified. Perhaps the most significant additions to the plan of the site are the nearly east-west and north-south aligned boundaries visible as cropmarks (and partially as earthworks on early aerial photographs) under the cricket ground (at TG 1352 0618), and the apparent continuation of the earthworks in Church Plantation beyond the eastern limit of the park into the field to the south of the two churches (at TG 1400 0606). While parts of this eastern group of earthworks are somewhat moat-like in appearance, none could be confirmed as being part of an actual moat, and certainly not the triple-moated site previously recorded as part of NHER 21294. Nor did the mapping support the existence of a toft to the south of the cricket pitch (at TG 1353 0610), where the features appeared more like a continuation of the boundaries to its north.
To the north, where the features are almost entirely visible as cropmarks, a network of sinuous trackways and/or boundary banks (and headlands?) appears to surround a pattern of elongated, sinuous fields, presumably strip fields and once part of an open field system. Mainly clustered in a band running from north to southwest across the fields are a number of rectilinear enclosures, with an additional enclosure to the southeast (at TG 1368 0650). In many places these seem to cut across the boundaries of the fields, and they could represent a separate (earlier?) phase of activity. However, they also seem to respect and fit within them, those where the orientation is most at odds with the fields being the least cohesive and least convincing as archaeological features. The enclosures and associated boundaries can perhaps best be interpreted therefore as boundaries, enclosures and perhaps settlement (crofts?) encroaching onto the field system (or less probably vice versa) before being abandoned when or before the area was emparked. The previously recorded ring ditch (see NHER 16258), which appears to be only half of a D-shaped or sub-circular ring ditch, seems to be part of this same group of features.
The field system is visible across approximately 315m by 280m of the park. The enclosures are predominantly trapezoidal in shape and vary in size from 18m by 14.5m to 52m by 50m.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 14 June 2010.