NHER 36445 (Cropmark and Earthwork record) - Site of Neolithic mortuary enclosure

19 July 1996. NLA air photography.
A complex series of cropmarks to the immediate west/south west of Belaugh Green Farm.
The northern element consists of what appears to be a series of ditched enclosures. These are on a large scale and run parallel with or at right angles to the direction of the ploughing. Some of these features may be drains, but the excessive size of some of the features may be indicative of a moated enclosure. They would appear to pre-date the railway (NHER 13587) ruling out a 1939 to 1945 date.
Within this complex of features are 2 less regular, parallel running, linear features and 2 ring ditches. The linear appears to be an earlier system of land division or a droveway, and the ring ditches (at least one of them) may be 'hut' circles or dwellings.
To the south 3 east to west linear features are field boundaries.
Within this are there is also an elongated, trapezoidal enclosure with a possible entrance at its northern end. The best parallels to this feature are the so called Neolithic mortuary enclosures (note 3 polished axes in the area).
To the west are 2 large ring ditches, probably Bronze Age barrows.
To the north of Belaugh Green Farm there is a faint curvilinear cropmark with the appearance of an enclosure ditch. There is a possibility that a similar ditch comes through into the field to the west, but the houses and the tree cover obscure the central area.
M. Brennand (NLA), 9 May 2001.