NHER 38444 (Monument record) - Possible post medieval water meadows

February 2004, Norfolk NMP
Possible post medieval water meadows and drainage ditches visible as earthworks on 1946 RAF aerial photographs (S1). The site was under arable cultivation by 1972 and the earthworks apparently levelled (S3). Floated water meadows of this type comprised a system of channels and drains to create a managed flow of water across the surface of the meadow. This encouraged growth of the grass early in the year to provide spring grazing for livestock.

The features are spread across seven fields and some are cut by the former railway line which opened in 1881 (NHER 13581). The site comprises mainly of north to south and northeast to southwest aligned ditches. A curving ditch is present at the southwest corner of the group, between TG 3574 2616 and TG 3586 2617. This feature and some of the other ditches in the main group are shown on the first edition Ordnance Survey map (25 inch, 1887 - 1891) (S2). Two parallel banks and ditches are present in the southernmost field in the group between TG 3605 2611 and TG 3605 2606, with an isolated ditch to their west between TG 3603 2612 and TG 3603 2608. The relationship of these features to the main area of possible water meadow to the north is not clear and it is possible that they relate to other drainage activity. Similarly, three ditches present in the easternmost field, centred on TG 3620 2618, may have a drainage rather than water meadow function. Features in the southern and eastern fields are not depicted on the first edition Ordnance Survey map (S2).
J. Albone (NMP), 05 February 2004.