NHER 17436 (Cropmark and Earthwork record) - Medieval earthworks

1973.
Earthworks, revealed by air photography.
Enclosures and tracks?
Plotted by A. Gregory (NAU) from air photographs.
A. J. Walker, 12 March 1981.

1988. Air photography.
Area of site extended.
Earthworks. Adjacent field containing enclosures and old field boundaries noted on Norfolk County Council/BKS vertical air photograph taken as part of survey of Norfolk. Merges with site NHER 20341.

February 1993.
Site located during NLA Earthwork Survey.
M. Flitcroft (NLA), 12 February 1993.

1992. Ordnance Survey air photograph
Shows several banked circular depressions in this area looking very much like bomb craters.
Copy in file under NHER 14353.
E. Rose (NLA) and B. Cushion (NLA), 5 August 1994.

February 1995. Earthwork Survey.
Suggested bomb craters appear to be extraction pits. Earthworks noted by T. Gregory (NAU) contain upstanding walls of apparently medieval buildings. Other earthworks form tofts, trackways etc.
Iron Age, Middle Saxon, Late Saxon and medieval sherds found during survey.
See report (S5) for plan and further details. This site was included in (S6) and the survey is also noted in (S7).
E. Rose (NLA), 1 June 1995.

July 2001. Norfolk NMP.
These earthworks are clearly depicted in photographs taken in low light conditions by J. K. Joseph in 1972. There is a stream or artificial water channel running from the northern edge of the site (Shernborne Road) towards the southwest. There are the potential outlines of embanked enclosures or rectangular buildings (S1 and S2) on both sides of this channel (TF 6954 3049, TF 6953 3046 and TF 6951 3041). These are probably buildings, and may be medieval in date. The channel side location may suggest milling activity, although there is no trace of a water pond or reservoir.

Within the centre of the site are two potential enclosures or fields (S3 and S4). The northernmost feature (centre: TF 6962 3050) is formed by a right angled length of ditch or canalised stream, with a straight narrow bank on its eastern side. The southern feature is formed by three linear banks, with the northern side apparently open. There are three large pits within the enclosure. The sunken anomalies in the eastern area of the site (TF 6968 3048) are almost certainly extraction pits (for stone?) rather than bomb craters. The easternmost two having sub-rectangular shapes in plan.

The Ordnance Survey images of 1967 appear to show a series of linear anomalies, possibly cropmarks, within the western part of the site that may be underlying ridge and furrow type earthworks. These are not visible on any other images and were not detected during the earthwork survey. There may be early ridge and furrow in the area but it is overlain by subsequent occupation and there appears to be no visible trace of it on the ground.
M. Brennand (NMP), 31 July 2001.