NHER 29560 (Cropmark and Earthwork record) - Site of undated ring ditch, adjacent to Dobbs' Beck

30 June 1986. Aerial photography (S1).
Cropmark of ring ditch.
D. Edwards, (NAU).

January 2008. Norfolk NMP.
A ring ditch is visible as a cropmark on aerial photographs (S1), centred at TG 2673 1518. Its date and function are not known. Like other ring ditches identified in the area (see NHER 50758 400m to the east, for example), it could represent the site of a Bronze Age round barrow. Its low-lying position, however, adjacent to the now canalised watercourse of Dobbs’ Beck, is not entirely congruous with this interpretation. A second enclosure-like cropmark (not mapped) visible further to the west in the same field relates to a quarry pit shown on the Tithe Map (S2). A similarly mundane origin, as a relatively recent pit or pond, or even very recent agricultural activity, is also possible for the site described here. The archaeological origin of two linear ditches (NHER 50794) that appear to overlap the site is also uncertain.
The ring ditch is roughly circular in plan and defined by a broad ditch. It measures up to 22.5m in diameter. A break on its northeast side may be due to the cropmark being masked rather than the presence of a genuine entrance. A pit-like cropmark towards its southeast side could hold an associated burial or votive deposit, or could merely be a product of the underlying geology or recent agricultural activity.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 15 January 2008.