NHER 38472 (Monument record) - Cropmark of Iron Age to Roman trackway

March 2004, Norfolk NMP
A probable trackway of Iron Age to Romano-British date is visible as a cropmark on aerial photographs (S1) to (S3), from TG 2125 3580 to TG 2106 3514. Although the trackway is not in itself datable, its apparent association with other trackways and with Iron Age square barrows, such as that 50m to the east of the southern end of its visible extent (NHER 13027), and proximity to surface finds (NHER 33645), suggests an Iron Age to Roman date. The nature of two enclosures or quarry pits at its southern end (NHER 38494) is unclear. The relationship between a third enclosure (NHER 38471) and the track is not known but there is no evidence that they are contemporary.

The track is defined by parallel ditches and is visible for 700m. The western ditch is visible almost throughout this length, occasional breaks probably being the result of the cropmark being masked by geological or agricultural features. The line of the ditch is rather sinuous, and its width varies where it may have been recut or possibly incorporates another feature (e.g. at TG 2114 3530). The eastern ditch, which is double in places, is only visible discontinuously for approximately 175m. The absence of an eastern ditch for so much of its length places its identification as a trackway in doubt, but its apparent orientation towards trackways to its north (in particular NHER 38483), reinforces this interpretation. Three short linear ditches to the west of the southern end of the track's visible extent (centred around TG 2111 3527), which lie virtually parallel or almost at a right angle to the track, may date from the same phase of activity.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 10 March 2004