NHER 10484 (Monument record) - Bell Hill

Formerly in Suffolk.
Tumulus? 'Cannon ball and human remains found' Ordnance Survey.
'Pieces of pottery occasionally found' - see (S1).
(S2) calls Belton.
See also (S3).
Enormous mound about 7m high with large depression in centre, surrounded by overgrown quarry. Modern? Beacon? Glacial? Not a barrow.
A. J. Lawson (NAU), 16 December 1975.

Broads Tourist edition of OS 1:50,000 marks this mound as 'Battery' (antiquity). Reason for change? Is it just because of the cannonball or is there other evidence?
E. Rose (NAU), 6 March 1986.

Post medieval battery.
A substantial gun emplacement with a pronounced cannon ramp to the east, there is an enbrasure to the north and a wide range of the Waveney River plain is covered with an arc of fire of approximately 150 degrees. The work is densely covered in both trees and undergrowth and a precise type classification is not possible although the work is obviously medieval and probably civil war.
OS Records.
R.J. Rickett 8 May 1990.

Yet ref (S4) states that William Stapleton, a Tudor treasure hunter and monk of St. Benet's Abbey, was told by the owner of Caldecote Hall that 'there was much money about his place, and in especial in the Bell Hill'. The latter sentence is given by (S4) in quotation marks but its source is not given. (S4) also mentions a legend of a golden plough in the hill. The latter could be of recent date but if the mound was considered to be ancient before the Reformation it clearly cannot be a
Civil War feature in origin, assuming the name at that time referred to the same feature. Was an older mound used? Or is (S4)'s source suspect? Details of reference from (source).
E. Rose (NLA), 17 September 1992.

Reference (S4) now checked. The sentence about Bell Hill is given in quotation marks though the original source is not given. However, it is stated that Stapleton stood trial before Thomas Cromwell for his actions, which suggests that the basic information is reliable.
E. Rose (NLA), 24 November 1993.