NHER 38303 (Monument record) - Post medieval ridge and furrow and other features

July 2003. NMP.
To the immediate east of Gaywood Park School are a series of ridge and furrow type earthworks (S1), aligned in an approximate north to south direction. These features probably continued to the north-east and originally covered a larger area, in the location now covered by the school buildings. This probably represents late medieval or post-medieval agriculture on the newly reclaimed saltmarsh. It is probably not ridge and furrow in the classic medieval sense, but was designed to keep the crop above the waterlogged ground. There is a north to south aligned bank running down the centre of the site, which is probably a post-medieval boundary, possibly formed from the material excavated from a drainage ditch.
There are two possible ring ditches within the area, at TF 6329 1983 and TF 6338 1978. Both appear as single circular cropmarks and have diameters of 11m and 26m. These features are probably post-medieval stack bases, although at 26m diameter the larger feature is exceptionally big.
M. Brennand (NMP), 18 July 2003.

Publication (S2) notes bomb craters on this field in the Second World War. Could these have any connection with the circular marks?
E. Rose (NLA), 4 January 2005.

September 2006. Desk-based Assessment.
This does not provide any new information about this site.
See report (S3).
S. Howard (NLA), 26 November 2009.

October-November 2021.
Evaluation of north-western half of proposed development site.
There was no evidence for surviving sub-surface remains associated with the larger of the two probable ring-ditches. None of the excavated trenches coincided with the second, smaller ring ditch.
See report (S4) and NHER 66896 for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 12 May 2023.