NHER 32268 (Monument record) - Medieval to post medieval earthworks possibly a brickworks

1 November 1996. Astral Air Surveys aerial photography.
Earthworks west and southeast of pumping station off Station Road (S1).
Possible salterns?
D. Edwards (NLA), 21 January 1997.

October 2000.
Strongest feature in field west of railway line is bank some 0.5m high running northeast to southwest. Field east of railway line covered in rough grass and nettles making identification of earthworks difficult.
H. Paterson (A&E), 17 January 2003.

THE CENTRAL GRID REFERENCE FOR THE SITE HAS BEEN ALTERED FROM TM 4568 9865 to TM 4568 9867.

July 2006. Norfolk NMP.
The site of a group of earthwork pits and associated banks, of probable medieval to post medieval date, located alongside the River Waveney, are visible on aerial photographs (S1-S3). The site is centred on TM 4568 9867. Several other groups of these pits have been identified on the aerial photographs within this area (NHER 43697) and further to the west, alongside the River Yare (NHER 10423). A further group may be located to the immediate east (NHER 44848), however this is not certain on the available aerial photographic evidence. The function of these pits is not known and previous interpretations include salterns, retting pits and brickworks. All of these interpretations and others, including oyster beds and extraction pits, are discussed in more detail below. All three sites are located immediately next to main rivers, suggesting that water is essential to the sites, either as part of the process or possibly were water transport of either materials or an end product.

The site consists of two groups of pits, separated by the railway line and the development of the chemical manure works. The pits to the southwest of the railway, centred on TM 4564 9870, are small and irregular in shape and layout, compared with the pits to the northeast, centred on TM 4582 9862, which are larger, better defined and rectangular in shape. This may indicate a difference in date or function for these two components of the site. A meandering creek, probably utilised as a drainage channel, defines the western extent of the earthworks.

Only the larger and well-defined pits were mapped as individual hollows, in particular those to the eastern end of the site. The earthworks in the western section of the site are much more irregular and less clear, partly due to vegetation and the angle of the oblique aerial photography of the site. The banks that surround these depressions have been mapped, rather than the hollowed area. These embankments form straight and curvilinear ridges, approximately 3m apart, that crisscross the site, forming a rough grid pattern. The ridges alongside the creek are more curvilinear in plan and broadly follow the alignment of the meandering channel, whilst those to the south of this are much more regular and linear.

A linear embankment appears to cut across the earthworks to the south of this area of the site, indicating that it is later than at least some of the pits. However at least one of the ridges does seem to straddle the side of the bank, indicating that the associated activity continued after the embankment was built. The bank itself may have two phases of construction, as it consists of a low, broad bank, which has a second, narrower bank on top, flanked by a ditch on either side. The western end of the bank either joins on to, or terminates at, the embankment running alongside the drainage ditch, which cuts across the earthworks, again suggesting that the bank is part of a later phase to the site.

The eastern pits vary in size and shape considerably, but are generally rectangular or oblong and ranging from 1-7m across. The majority of the pits are self-contained, however at the pits nearest the river, have interlinking channels. These earthworks are also some of the largest in size, including one markedly elongated pit, this would indicate that the larger pits serve a different function to the smaller pits.

The comparable site at alongside the Yare at the Reedham Swing Bridge (NHER 10423) has been most recently interpreted as a post medieval brickworks (S3), due to the presence of fragments of crude red brick at the site and names 'brick fields' and 'brick marsh' being attributed to the fields. The Waveney Valley Works site is also located within 350m of a post medieval brickworks (NHER 15122), however there is no obvious landscape or aerial photographic evidence linking the two sites together. It also seems unlikely that the pits were dug for brick clay extraction, where larger and overlapping cuts would be expected, although it is possible that the ridges or baulks were left in-situ to aid access around the site. Early clamp-brick sites would have extracted the clay one clamp at time, so it is possible this episodic extraction may have led to discrete pits being dug. Although the pits may be too small and shallow to represent a full clamp of bricks and the presence of interlinking channels and the repetition of shape and design over several features implies that the pits were employed as part of a specific process and not just extraction. It is possible that the hollows were utilised as part of the brick making process, although no obvious function can be assigned to the features. It is possible that at the Reedham site where the place name and assemblage does indicate a brickworks, that two sets of activities were taking place at the site.

Another suggested interpretation for these sites has been salt pans and it is possible that the ‘crude brick’ fragments found at the Reedham site is actually briquetage. This site would have been located on the eastern edge of the Iron Age to Roman estuary and tidal mud flats, in-between the 0m and 5m contour to the north. However the site is located to the immediate south of the Waveney and such features would not be expected to survive so close to the river course. Although it is possible that the course of the river has altered over time, especially since the medieval period where dredging and changes to the river outflows have caused major alterations to the course of the main Broadland rivers (S4). The landscape history of the area would make it much more likely that these pits are dug into the clays and silts associated with the silting of the eastuary and marshes and therefore are likely to be medieval to post medieval in date. It is possible then that they are medieval salt pans, however it seems unlikely that there would be sufficient tidal influx in the river valley this far inland during this period. Additionally no salt pans or related sites are listed for this area in the Domesday survey. Medieval salterns are known to have been located the northern margins of the estuary and Breydon Water (S5). Earthworks similar to this in Lincolnshire had previously been interpreted as salt pans, but are now thought to be clay extraction pits for the repairing sea banks (pers. comm. Damian Grady, English Heritage). These pits alongside the Waveney appear too irregular and shallow to have realistically been created in the course of bank maintenance or construction. Also they show no obvious relationship with any the flood banks visible.

The eastern group of pits has the appearance of shellfish beds, although they do not appear to be connected to a leat or channel, suggesting that despite the riverine location, the pits were not necessarily fed by the water. Oyster beds and mussel pits require the episodic inundation of salt water and, as mentioned above, it seems unlikely that the Waveney had significant tidal influx this far inland other than in the period of the major estuarine incursions of the Iron Age to Roman periods (S4). Some of the earthworks possibly have the possible appearance of small peat extraction pits or turbaries, but the location of the site immediately next to the River Waveney makes this an extremely unlikely interpretation. Any former layers of peat within this valley are likely to have been eroded or buried beneath layers of clays and silts associated with the former estuarine channel and the later silting of the channel (S4).
S. Massey (NMP), 12 July 2006.

July 2007. Norfolk NMP.
Comparison with other earthworks and cropmarks within the Broads area that are associated with post medieval brickworks, such as Sutton Mill (NHER 8334) and NHER 10423, referred to above, would indicate that these small and closely-spaced square and oblong pits are associated with clay extraction or another process employed in the production of bricks. It may be that the potentially wetter environments of these locations necessitated the leaving of baulk in-between small individual clay pits rather than the digging of larger and more amorphous shaped extraction areas.
S. Massey (NMP), 27 July 2006.