NHER 54636 (Cropmark and Earthwork record) - Site of possible medieval or post medieval ridge and furrow

May 2011. Norfolk NMP.
The possible remains of ridge and furrow or similar agricultural marks of medieval or post medieval date are visible as soilmarks and cropmarks on aerial photographs (S1)-(S2), centred at TG 1286 0185. A number of seemingly contemporary field boundaries are also visible on these and additional aerial photographs (S3)-(S4); most are depicted on Wymondham Tithe Map of 1839 (S5) but those which aren’t have been mapped. The latter are part of an extensive post medieval field pattern, with traces of earlier elements, visible as crop- and soilmarks stretching from the outskirts of Wymondham in the west to the parish boundary to the east. These surround the presumed medieval ringwork of Moot Hill (NHER 9438), and while most are depicted on the Tithe Map their origins and survival in relation to this more substantial monument are perhaps worthy of consideration. The more complex and substantial elements not depicted on the Tithe Map are recorded as NHER 36746 and 54633-5; those 100m to the north, recorded as NHER 54633, are clearly part of the same pattern as those recorded here. The ridge and furrow marks are only visible on photographs taken in 1946, and therefore their interpretation is uncertain; they might instead be of relatively recent agricultural origin, although the fact that they are bounded to the south by a Tithe Map boundary suggests that they are of 19th-century date at least. At approximately 12m the furrows are also rather wider than would be typical of even medieval ridge and furrow, although there are traces of less distinct intervening furrows, spaced at a more typical 6m, in places.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 31 May 2011.