NHER 21839 (Cropmark and Earthwork record) - Site of probable Bronze Age round barrows

3 July 1976. At approximate grid reference.
"Cropmarks" noted on CUCAP list of APs.
E. Rose (NAU) 22 October 1985.

August 2006. Norfolk NMP.
NMP mapping has altered the central grid reference of the site from TG 419 159 to TG 4183 1591.

The cropmarks mentioned above, visible on aerial photographs (S1)-(S3), include up to three ring ditches. (Linear cropmarks visible in the same area and on the same aerial photographs are recorded as NHER 44936.) The size, location and general character of the ring ditches suggests that they represent the remains of Bronze Age round barrows or similar funerary monuments. The site lies at the head of Shallam Dyke, a topographic relationship which was presumably significant. Other clusters of ring ditches are evident on the higher slopes to the southeast and northeast (e.g. NHER 15805 and NHER 44950), while single ring ditches are visible 145m and 310m to the north (NHER 44927 and 44928 respectively). Some of the linear and pit-like cropmarks (NHER 44936 and 44926) that surround the site could be contemporary features, or were at least laid out when the postulated barrows were still visible above ground. For example, a curvilinear trackway visible between TG 4186 1600 and TG 4183 1595 may have had some kind of relationship with the northernmost ring ditch.

The southeastern ring ditch (visible at TG 4186 1588) is the largest, measuring 34m in diameter. The northernmost (visible at TG 4183 1595) is marked by a notably wide ditch, which given the variations in the way the cropmark is showing was probably recut at some point in its history. It has an external diameter of 27m, and an internal diameter of 21m. A third possible ring ditch, measuring approximately 24m in diameter, is visible at TG 4178 1591, but this is less convincing as an archaeological feature and may merely be the product of recent agricultural activity. A curvilinear ditch visible at TG 4183 1581, which is recorded as part of NHER 44936, could represent part of a fourth ring ditch, but too little is visible to warrant including it within this site.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 16 August 2006.