NHER 26634 (Monument record) - Probable Roman track or road and associated linear features

July 2001. Norfolk NMP.
These cropmarks are within finds retrieval area NHER 1517.
The longer, stretch of road is aligned in an approximate east to west direction (TF 68437 33923 to 68255 33932) and is visible for a length of 183m (S1). The line of this section of road is still a field boundary on the early Ordnance Survey map editions. This feature probably originally joined a second, 125m stretch of road to the west (TF 68199 33950 to 68084 33999) which turns angles towards the northwest. At its western end there appears to be a short length of road heading towards the north (S1). There is a second stretch of road (TF 68164 33953 to 68135 33890) that extends southwards from the east to west feature, at a right-angle, probably to join up with the road in site 28450. However it does appear that the ditch for the east to west road cuts through the agger of the road heading towards the southwest and they may not be directly contemporary, or possibly one remained in use longer than the other. Single ditch features to the south and extending from the road ditch at right-angles are probably field boundaries.
The features appear to have a compacted or laid surface at the centre with a ditch down either side, although the ditch is intermittent in places, possibly because the road surface material has filled the ditch. Together with NHER 28450 to the south-west, these features are the only apparently surfaced routeways visible that are likely to be associated with the Roman Period settlement and field systems in the Snettisham environs. The eastern destination of this road is unclear. The road is heading in the direction of a villa (NHER 1514), but the line of the road can only be traced up to the line of Lynn Road. There is no trace of it on any aerial photograph images to the east of the Lynn Road, although one might expect a road with a compacted surface to show as a parch mark. Possibly the route of a further north to south aligned road lies under the present one, or the road leads to an as yet unknown settlement site.
M. Brennand (NMP), July 2001.