NHER 38895 (Monument record) - Cropmarks of possible Iron Age to Roman period field system

October 2004. Norfolk NMP.
The cropmarks described below were previously recorded as NHER 36487.

A group of linear ditches, probably the fragmentary remains of a field system, are visible as cropmarks on aerial photographs (S1), centred at TG 2651 3836. Too little of the site is visible to draw any firm conclusions but it appears to form part of a wide swathe of sites comprising linear cropmarks visible between Mundesley Beck and the modern coastline. The orientation and general layout of these ditches suggests that they represent part of an extensive pattern of land division which probably dates to the Iron Age to Roman periods. A similar pattern of field systems has also been identified to the south, between Mundesley Beck and Brandfield Beck, a tributary of the River Ant. The postulated field system described here appears to respect a small enclosure (NHER 38903), possibly a Neolithic oval barrow or small mortuary enclosure. In places, for example at TG 2658 3830, elements of the field system overlie each other, suggesting that the system was modified or reinstated at various times. It should be noted that due to a lack of control points on the available aerial photographs some of the ditches were sketched rather than mapped from a rectified photograph. Furthermore, while there is a clear difference in orientation between this field system and the later system which overlies it (NHER 38904), there are a number of ditches in both sites which could equally belong to the other.

The field system is visible over an area measuring 740m by 440m. It appears to be predominantly rectilinear in pattern.
(S1)
S. Tremlett (NMP), 21 October 2004.