NHER 9750 (Monument record) - Site of Humbleyard Hundred moot, Swardeston

Site of Humble Yards (Hundred Court) R. R. Clarke (NCM) noted raised banks, but these had gone by 1952 (Ordnance Survey map). Unit AP TG2102/C (S1) shows faint dark rectangle (29 June 1976).
E. Rose (NAU).

No trace in ploughed field.
E. Rose (NAU), 15 March 1979.

The central grid reference for this site has been altered from TG 2120 0211 to TG 2121 0212.

April 2009. Norfolk NMP.
The cropmarks of possible banks and ditches potentially relating to the meeting place of the court of Humbleyard Hundred may be visible on aerial photographs (S1-S2). The Ordnance Survey first and second edition maps (1879-1886, 6 inch & 1902-07, 25 inch) (S3-S4) mark this location, which is centred on TG 2121 0212, as ‘Site of Humble Yard’, which is assumed to refer to the site of the court or moot for the Humbleyard Hundred.

The Hundred court meeting places needed to be at what was perceived to be an impartial location. Typically these were located at a distance from settlements, although this site was potentially located immediately adjacent to the medieval village and manorial centre of Gowthorpe, see NHER 52066. Often this was at the point where two or more estate boundaries converged. The site of the Humbleyard is located on the actual boundary of two parishes, Swainsthorpe and Swardeston, and in very close vicinity to the boundaries of Mulbarton, Stoke Holy Cross, and formerly Dunston, is therefore characteristic of court meeting places. The location of the site roughly equidistant between the Roman Pye road to the east (NHER 7947) and another major road, from New Buckenham to Norwich, to the west, may also be a significant factor in the site’s location. The fact that this section of the road that the moot is placed next to is also parallel to the Roman road to the east may also indicate that this is a relatively ancient routeway.

The Swardeston (1847) and Swainsthorpe (undated) Tithe maps depict an enclosure, 70m by 30m, at this location (S5-S6). The northern part of the enclosure is broadly sub-rectilinear in shape; by contrast the southern part (divided by a field boundary) is semi-circular in shape. The line of the Swainsthorpe and Swardeston parish boundaries follow the curving southern line of this feature. The aerial photographs of this site reveal a number of fragmentary ditches (S1), however only one of these would appear to relate to the enclosure depicted on the Tithe maps. The cropmarks indicate the possible presence of a rectangular enclosed area alongside and to the east of that depicted on the maps, up to 95m across and 40m wide. Iit is feasible that these ditches form part of the medieval to post medieval boundaries recorded under NHER 52069. The possible southern curvilinear boundary as depicted on the historic maps may be visible as a cropmark in 1992 (S7), although this could not be identified with any great certainty and therefore was not mapped.

Previous descriptions of this site have referred to raised banks being present (see above). However consultation of the earliest aerial photographs of this site revealed no banks corresponding to the enclosure marked on the maps (S2), i.e. to the east of the boundary. However to the immediate west of the enclosure in 1942 (S2) is an enclosed area on the green, possibly defined by earthworks, although the poor quality of the scanned prints makes it hard to be certain of this. Two linear parchmarks visible in 1976 (S1) broadly correspond with the edge of the 1942 enclosed area and are likely to relate to the banks noted by Rainbird Clarke (see above). It is therefore possible that the moot of the Humbleyard was originally an elongated and somewhat unusual shape. However it must be noted that these banks broadly follow the same alignment as the ditches recorded to the west of the chapel (NHER 52069). It is therefore possible that these also relate to the medieval settlement and not to the Hundred Court.

These banks are no longer visible in 1946 (S8), which is consistent with them being destroyed by 1952 (see above) although the former interior can still be discerned as it is showing as a lighter area of vegetation. The 1976 aerial photographs reveal a number of possible internal features, although few of these were mapped as it was felt that a significant proportion were of natural origin. A number of the cropmarks that could be interpreted as being archaeological would appear to relate to a channel and pond depicted on the 1847 Swardeston Tithe map (S5). It is possible that this feature relates to possible use of this general vicinity for brick making (see 52066 for discussion). To the east of the chapel are possible banked enclosure (or pair of banked boundaries) was mapped. These broadly follow the same alignment as the ditches recorded to the west of the chapel. It is therefore possible that these also relate to the medieval settlement. Discussion of these former earthworks is included in the record for the ‘site of Humble Yards’, the moot or meeting place of the Humbleyard Hundred (NHER 9750), due to the banks previously being attributed to the moot site
S. Horlock (NMP), 24 April 2009.

2010. Geophysical Survey.
Magnetometer survey of proposed quarry extension areas.
Although the eastern half of this group fell within the area examined only one cropmark was associated with a potentially related geophysical anomaly – a north-to-south aligned feature at TG 2121 0213.
See NHER 57922 for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 23 January 2023.

August-October 2011. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of proposed aggregate extraction areas.
One of the trenches excavated at this location coincided with the two adjacent north-to-south aligned cropmarks mapped at TG 2121 0213. Two potentially corresponding ditches were recovered, although the alignment of these features was slightly different to that of the mapped cropmarks. Unfortunately neither ditch produced any dating evidence.
See report (S9) and NHER 57922 for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 25 January 2023.