NHER 38553 (Monument record) - Cropmarks of medieval to post medieval ditches and enclosure

March 2004, Norfolk NMP
Linear and rectilinear ditches, a small ditched enclosure and a number of pits or post-holes are visible as cropmarks on aerial photographs (S1-2), centred at TG 2273 3685. Many of the ditches share an alignment with the boundaries of the field in which the cropmarks lie, and these are probably field boundaries of post-medieval date. Indeed, one of the ditches (visible from TG 2280 3689 to TG 2276 3679) is depicted on Roughton Tithe Map (dated 1838; S3). At its southern end this same ditch crosses a ring ditch (NHER 18425) which may once have surrounded a medieval or post-medieval windmill mound; since the latter is not shown on the consulted historic maps, the field boundary presumably overlies it. The majority of the other linear and rectilinear ditches probably also pre-date the post-medieval field boundaries, and these may have been contemporary with this windmill mound or the adjacent medieval or post-medieval post-mill (NHER 38552). The enclosure and two pits or post-holes surround an unmapped quarry pit which perhaps provided material for the road (Thorpe Market Road) to its south. The enclosure overlies or is overlain by a post-medieval field boundary but their chronological relationship is unknown. It seems most likely that the enclosure pre-dates the field boundary.

Three sides of the enclosure are visible as cropmarks on the consulted aerial photographs (S1-2); the south side may have been formed by Thorpe Market Road. It appears to be polygonal or rectilinear in plan and measures up to 57m long and at least 30m wide.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 31 March 2004