NHER 52488 (Cropmark and Earthwork record) - Site of possible Bronze Age ring ditch

March 2010. Norfolk NMP.
A possible ring ditch is visible as a cropmark on aerial photographs (S1)-(S2), centred at TG 2433 0546. If it is a genuine archaeological feature, the site could represent the plough-levelled remains of a Bronze Age round barrow, part of a dispersed cemetery (NHER 53403), the remainder of which is visible to the west. Parts of this cemetery were excavated in advance of the construction of the Norwich Southern Bypass, demonstrating that it contained at least three ring ditches which were used for cremation and inhumation burials between the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age (S3). The ring ditch described here could be similar in both date and function, although the fact that it is visible (and only partially visible) on photographs taken in a single year, and the rather unclear nature of the cropmarks, makes its identification as an archaeological feature uncertain; it could instead be a mark of natural or recent agricultural origin, other marks of this type being visible in the area.
The postulated ring ditch seems to be roughly circular or perhaps oval in plan, with a diameter of 32.5m. A possible much smaller internal concentric ring ditch is also visible; this is also circular or oval in plan and has a diameter of 9m. The contrast between the larger outer ditch and small inner is directly comparable to another barrow in the group, NHER 52483.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 5 March 2010.