NHER 36486 (Monument record) - Cropmarks of prehistoric trackway and possible enclosure

28 June 1996. NLA air photography.
Cropmarks of trackway with some small cojoined linears.
A possible curvilinear feature can be seen amongst varying geological marks. It has the appearance of a ring ditch, although the mark is too ephemeral to be certain.
S. Massey (NLA), 8 October 2001.

March 2004, Norfolk NMP
NMP mapping has led to the alteration of the central grid reference of the site from TG 2080 3636 to TG 2077 3632.

The cropmarks described above are visible as cropmarks on aerial photographs from 1996 (S1). They appear to form part of an extensive prehistoric ceremonial and/or funerary landscape dating from the Neolithic to the Iron Age.

The trackway, which is rather sinuous, is defined by ditches approximately 8m apart. A possible pit or post hole (at TG 2077 3632) forms part of its eastern side. A conjoined linear ditch on its western side may be the northern edge of a second trackway leading northwest towards two sections of possibly contemporary track (NHER 38482). To its north the trackway may have met with the northwestern track of NHER 38483. To its south, the track may have led to the northeastern end of a Neolithic cursus (NHER 18190).

At the southern end of the visible extent of the trackway, part of a possible ring ditch or (more probably) a curvilinear enclosure is visible. The slightly curvilinear ditch visible from TG 2077 3627 to 2077 3626 may be the southern side of this enclosure, or a continuation of the western side of the trackway (or both). Geological cropmarks in this area, which have a similar appearance, make it difficult to tell with any certainty whether this feature is archaeological. If it is an archaeological feature, it appears to enclose a pit or post hole, and what is either the bulbous terminal of the eastern side of the track or a conjoined pit/post hole. As with many of the ring ditches and enclosures identified in the area, it is likely to be of prehistoric date (probably Neolithic or Bronze Age given its form) and to have had a ceremonial or funerary function, but the possibility that it is in fact a geological cropmark should be borne in mind.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 1 March 2004