NHER 12819 (Cropmark and Earthwork record) - Site of ring ditch of possible Bronze Age date

Circular cropmark in marshes.
Unlikely to be a ring ditch in this position.
There are a number of other vaguely circular markings in this area, though none so regular, suggesting pits or filter beds etc.
Located by E. Rose (NAU) 14 September 1977.

NAU air photography, see (S1), (S2) and (S3).
Cropmark (positive) of a ring ditch on edge of marsh.
See overlay for NHER record map TG 20 NW compiled by D. Edwards (NAU).
D. Edwards (NAU) 28 January 1980.

Originally recorded in the parish of Eaton, now part of Norwich.

December 2009. Norfolk NMP.
NMP mapping has led to the alteration of the central grid reference of the site from TG 2102 0535 to TG 2105 0534.
The ring ditch described above is visible as a cropmark on aerial photographs (S1)-(S3), centred at TG 2105 0534. The site’s low-lying position is little reason to dismiss it as that of a prehistoric round barrow: ring ditches, barrows and other monuments of known or probable prehistoric date are known from similarly low-lying, valley-bottom locations, including the barrow cemetery NHER 50646 at Weston Longville/Morton on the Hill. Also, the area is notable for its prehistoric sites, including the Eaton barrow cemetery NHER 9549 which lies only 650m to the north. Furthermore, it may be significant that the ring ditch appears to occupy the southern end of a low ridge, circa 5m above OD, within the valley bottom. A possible second ring ditch 160m to the northeast (NHER 52500) is of far less certain archaeological significance, and the fact that neither is visible on photographs taken in any other year means that both sites should be treated with a degree of caution. Whether this second ring ditch is that listed by Lawson in addition to the ring ditch described here (see (S4) and NMR TG 20 NW 293) is not clear, as no grid reference is given for the latter, and as has been mentioned above various other circular and sub-circular marks are visible in the area.
The ring ditch is very circular in plan and measures 22m in diameter. A possible internal pit, roughly oval in plan, is visible in its southeastern quadrant; this could represent a pit for a burial or related deposit, but its similarity to other pit-like cropmarks in the surrounding area, which are presumably of natural origin, means that its archaeological significance is far from certain (although it does appear to be slightly darker than other marks).
S. Tremlett (NMP), 30 December 2009.