NHER 26758 (Cropmark and Earthwork record) - Post medieval embanked enclosure

April 2002. Norfolk NMP.
The enclosure or embankment is actually slightly elongated, with rounded corners, and is connected to the land by a short stretch of embanked causeway (S1). The structure narrows towards the north, and the interior is a levelled area of grass. There is a structure (cottage/boathouse?) within the northeastern tip of the enclosure. This structure may be recorded on Faden’s map (S2) and was certainly recorded on the Ordnance Survey second edition (S3). Obviously the contemporaniety of the bank and building cannot be proven. The building is on a southwest to northeast alignment and the bank does not continue down the northwestern side of the building, leaving it open towards the saltmarsh and sea.
The date of the enclosure cannot be determined. The bank may simply be a flood defence measure, although the break in the bank at the site of the building would countermine the protection. It may also represent a defensive structure (Napoleonic?) designed to protect the harbour or house a harbour or customs official.
M. Brennand (NMP), 16 April 2002.

May-November 2004. Norfolk Rapid Coastal Zone Archaeological Survey.
Inter-tidal survey (Environmental Zone 8), Context 811:
An enclosure bank and house (possibly with post medieval architectural elements) was situated on the southern edge of the salt marsh, to the west of Brancaster Staithe harbour (at TF 79111, 44347).
See assessment report (S4) for further details.
The associated archive has been deposited with the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2017.421).
J. Allen (NLA), 15 April 2005. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 21 July 2019.