NHER 42150 (Monument record) - Probable post medieval drains

November 2005. Norfolk NMP.
Linear ditches of unknown date, probably representing 19th century drainage ditches, are visible as cropmarks and earthworks (principally the former) on aerial photographs (S1), (S2), (S3), (S4) and (S5), centred around TG 4504 2360. The ditches, which are not depicted on any of the consulted historic maps, seem most likely to be associated with the final enclosure and drainage of this area of former marshland, which took place between the production of Waxham and Horsey Tithe Maps (S6) and (S7) in 1840 and the first edition of the Ordnance Survey 1st edition 6 inch map (S8) in the 1880s. Alternatively, they could represent an earlier attempt to drain the area. The line of the parallel ditches oriented northwest to southeast, which form the southwestern limit of the site, cuts across two major dykes, both shown on the Tithe Maps (S6) and (S7), the northernmost of which is associated with Brograve drainage mill (NHER 8389). The relationship between the dykes and the less substantial features visible on the aerial photographs is not known. The drain at the north corner of the site (visible from TG 4502 2385 to TG 4496 2380), which was an earthwork in the 1940s (S1), (S2) and (S3), may still have been in use at this date. Some of the drains visible to its north, which have been recorded as NHER 42149, could be contemporary with those described here, but again no clear relationship can be discerned. NHER 42151 approximately 270m to the southwest may also be a contemporary site. Recent aerial photographs, taken in the 1970s (S9), indicate that there are now probably no surviving earthworks at the site.

It should be noted that many of the mapped features are only faintly visible on the aerial photographs and that there is consequently a relatively high chance that at least some of them are not archaeological in origin but are the product of recent agricultural activity. Similarly, further linear marks visible to the east on some of the aerial photographs (for example (S1)), have been interpreted as deriving from modern activity and consequently have not been mapped.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 11 November 2005.