NHER 16499 (Monument record) - Probable Roman salt production site

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Summary

A probably Roman period salt production site is visible as a pair of earthwork mounds on 1946 RAF and 1974 NLA aerial photographs.

Protected Status/Designation

  • None recorded

Location

Map sheet TF63SE
Civil Parish SANDRINGHAM, WEST NORFOLK, NORFOLK

Map

Before 1980.
'Mound in wood. Keeper dug out large pieces of grey pot when rabbitting'.
Written on KLM map.
E. Rose (NAU), 20 August 1980.

Another salt-boiling site like those to southeast?

6 April 1984.
Mound is a natural island in fen. No finds made.
E. Rose (NAU).

Roman sherds found in 1968. York Cottage Museum.
Ordnance Survey Records.
R. J. Rickett (NAU), 1 February 1990.

August 2001. Norfolk NMP.
The site appears as two mounds at TF 6572 3070 and TF 6567 3057 (S1 and S2), of which only the southern mound was initially assigned a NHER number. Each mound is sub-round to irregular in plan and has an average diameter of 30m, although probably reduced in size and height by erosion and agriculture.
The mounds have been covered in trees since the last century and no details are visible on aerial photographs because of the vegetation. These are almost certainly salt production sites and possibly also small settlement sites, similar to NHER 1562 and 1563 to the southeast. The ‘grey pottery’ found on the southern mound might suggests a Roman date. It is possible that this site took advantage of a natural rise in the salt marsh topography but the height of mound is likely to have been enhanced with sand and occupation accumulation.
M. Brennand (NMP), 10 August 2001.

  • --- Record Card: NAU Staff. 1974-1988. Norfolk Archaeological Index Primary Record Card.
  • --- Serial: 1968. Council for British Archaeology Group 7 Bulletin of Archaeological Discoveries for 1968. No 15. p 6.
  • <S1> Vertical Aerial Photograph: RAF. 1944-1950. Norfolk Air Photo Library: RAF National Air Survey Vertical Collection. TF6630/B; 16-APR-1946 (RAF/106G/UK/1427 4059).
  • <S2> Oblique Aerial Photograph: Various. ? - 2020. Norfolk Air Photo Library: Oblique Collection. TF6530/A; 14-JUN-1974 (HES 2/AAW 45).
  • POT (Unknown date)
  • POT (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)

Related NHER Records (0)

Record last edited

Nov 19 2025 8:51AM

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