NHER 56535 (Monument record) - Post-medieval linear features

September 2010. Desk-based Assessment.
Assessment of large proposed development area to south-east of Downham Market.
See report (S1) for further details, including detailed plot of former field boundaries depicted on 19th-century maps.
P. Watkins (HES), 29 May 2022.

May 2011. Geophysical Survey.
Magnetometry survey of proposed development area (Field 1).
The survey revealed a number east-to-west aligned parallel slightly curving linear anomalies that are the remains of medieval or later ridge and furrow cultivation. A number of other linear anomalies can be attributed to former field boundaries depicted on 19th-century maps, including one that also coincided with the former line of the Downham Market/Denver parish boundary.
In the western half of the field the survey revealed two parallel, slightly sinuous, east-to-west aligned linear anomalies that are likely to represent the side ditches associated with a trackway.
At the far western edge of the field is an L-shaped negative anomaly might represent the buried footings of a stone building.
A number of large dipolar anomalies at the eastern end of the field are likely to represent structural remains associated with a probably represent recent structures associated with a sewage works constructed during the Second World War (NHER 65670). It is though also noted that a scatter of slag was visible in this area. A positive linear anomaly leading away from this area is possibly a former trackway.
See report (S2) for further details.
S. Howard (HES), 13 January 2012. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 8 September 2015 and 29 May 2022.

June 2011. Systematic Fieldwalking Survey.
Field survey of proposed development area.
This site was one of several areas examined and unfortunately it is not possible to determine exactly which objects were recovered in which fields.
See report (S3) and NHER 61169 for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 8 September 2015.

April 2016. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of part of large proposed development area (Trenches 24-33).
The ten trenches excavated at this location revealed a number of linear features, most, if not all, of which were of probable post-medieval date. The more substantial ditches recorded all corresponded with former field boundaries depicted on 19th-century maps. These included an extensive east-to-west aligned features at the southern end of the site that once marked the line of the Downham Market/Denver parish boundary.
A number of shallower east-to-west aligned linear were also recorded. These included an east-to-west aligned possible plough furrow at the northern end of the site, in one of the areas where the preceding geophysical survey had identified possible traces of ridge and furrow cultivation. This feature was found to contain post-medieval pottery and ceramic building material fragments.
There was no evidence for sub-surface remains associated with the parallel geophysical anomalies thought to represent trackway ditches. A trench positioned to coincide with the ‘L’-shaped anomaly at the western edge of the site also revealed no associated remains.
Unstratified finds were limited to a small assemblage of worked flints comprising flakes and a blade of probable Late Neolithic to Bronze Age date and a leaf-shaped knife with shallow invasive flaking. The knife is a notable piece, comparable to the Early Bronze Age plano-convex knives that are often associated with burials.
See report (S4) for further details.
An archive associated with this work has been deposited with Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2018.20).
P. Watkins (HES), 29 May 2022.