NHER 7490 (Cropmark and Earthwork record) - Possible Bronze Age round barrow on Marsham Heath

One in wood? Probably not in view of contiguous gravel workings (therefore not a barrow).
Marked on (S1).
R.R. Clarke (NCM).

(S1) is not at all clear on this area, whether one or two barrows are meant and their exact positions, but it is certainly in the region of TG 178 233, and not TG 176 234 where R.R. Clarke (NCM) had marked it - so it is not really close to the gravel workings.
E. Rose (NLA), 23 August 1982.

1975. Visit.
No trace in plantation.
A.J. Lawson (NAU), 6 February 1975.

In (S2) Henry Harrod makes reference to a '"…some very fine tumuli on Marsham Heath" but no further details are given.
E. Rose (NAU). Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 16 June 2025.

November 2007. Field visit, following clear felling of part of the mapped area.
No mound visible.
D. Robertson (HES), 15 August 2011.

August 2021. Aylsham and Brampton Aerial Investigation and Mapping (AIM) Project.
No earthworks of potential archaeological interest are visible at this location on any of the sources consulted.
J. Powell (Norfolk Historic Environment Service), 18 August 2021.

This record relates primarily to the 'tumulus' marked on (S1). There is though no clear indication on (S1) of where this feature lay and it is by no means certain that it had been observed within Burnt Plantation. It is actually much more likely that it lay within Marsham Heath itself, particularly as the more detailed Ordnance Survey First Edition Six-inch (S3) and 25-inch (S4) maps both mark this 'tumulus' as having lain approximately 200m to the north-west of this location, within Marsham Heath. It is though marked as 'tumulus (remains of)' on the former and neither map appears to give a precise location for this feature. It is unclear how this relates to the 'tumuli on Marsham Heath' noted by Harrod in 1852, but it is probably the barrow "…on Marsham Heath…" noted in (S5). The relevant Ordnance Survey record card (S6) states that "The published tumulus is only upcast from gravel workings" - which would be consistent with a feature on Marsham Heath in the vicinity of TG 1763 2344, where various sand pits are known to have existed (see NHER 53008). In summary, there doesn't appear to be any reliable evidence that the barrow noted on (S1) or the barrow(s) referred to by early authors actually lay within this area of Burnt Plantation. It seems likely that the main feature of interest had lain approximately 200m to the north-west on Marsham Heath itself - although this may well have been quarry upcast rather than a barrow monument.
P. Watkins (HES), 16 June 2025.