NHER 7071 (Monument record) - Site of late medieval or post medieval post mill

February 2005. Norfolk NMP.
Cropmarks of a medieval to post medieval post mill and a post medieval pit are visible on aerial photographs (S1-7). These features were previously recorded as part of NHER 7025 (contexts 1-3) but have been reassigned their original number 7071. Both of these cropmarks were partly excavated in 1962 (S8-9). The ring ditch of the post mill is located at TG 3303 3084. This differs from the grid reference (TG 3305 3090) recorded in the secondary file and published report (S8-9).

The cropmark ring ditch of the post mill is hengiform in plan and has a maximum external diameter of 27m. A sketch plan in the secondary file (S8) and the published plan (S9) both show this to be the correct size of the ring ditch. The internal diameter of 18.2m (60’) is correctly recorded in the notes in the secondary file. However, the published report incorrectly quotes this dimension as the diameter of the cropmark (S9).

The cropmark of the western half of the ring ditch appears on some aerial photographs to comprise of two equal parts. This is a only a result of the 1962 excavation trench having disturbed a section across the ditch and the feature has been mapped as a continuous ditch. Both ditches measured between 3.5m and 5.0m wide. Excavation of this feature in 1962 revealed a narrow outer ditch on the western side of the main ditch. It could not be separately identified and it is likely that it appeared as part of the same broad cropmark as the western ditch. The two causeways dividing the ring ditch are not placed opposite each other. One is located on the northwest side of the ring ditch and measures 4m across, the other is on the southern side and is 3.5m wide. Inside of the ring ditch is an irregular cross-shaped cropmark representing the cross-tree base of the post mill. The cropmark is wider and more pit-like at the centre, perhaps indicating other disturbance in this area. Pottery of late medieval date was discovered during the excavation of the outer ditch. There was no evidence from the excavation that the mill had been sited on an existing late Neolithic or Bronze Age round barrow or hengiform monument. However, only a small part of its internal area was investigated and this possibility need not be ruled out. This cropmark is similar in size to another hengiform ring ditch, possibly also a mill, located at Bacton (NHER 16014).

To the south of the mill at TG 33025 30815 is an L-shaped pit cropmark that was also excavated in 1962 (S8-9). This pit was previously recorded as NHER 7025 (context 3) and originally as 7071. Notes in the 7025 secondary file give the grid reference TG 3305 3098, placing it to the north of the mill. However, the published report (S9) clearly states that it lies to the south. Post medieval pottery was recovered from this feature although its function is uncertain.

Access to the mill was provided by a road along its northwest side (NHER 38864). The northern part of this road was marked on Faden’s 1797 map although the mill itself is not (S10). The mill is surrounded by a double-ditched enclosure cropmark (NHER 38872) which is crossed by the road and may be earlier than the mill. Alternatively the enclosure may relate to the later phase of the mill’s use when only the northern part of the road was in use. Other unrelated linear ditch cropmarks cross and pass close to the mill and pit (NHER 27243).
(S1-10)
J. Albone (NMP), 03 February 2005