NHER 38996 (Monument record) - Cropmarks of an elaborate post medieval drainage system

November 2004. Norfolk NMP.
A possible catchwork or similar water management system is visible as earthworks on aerial photographs (S1-2), centred at TG 2621 3513. Its alignment against a field boundary depicted on historic Ordnance Survey maps (S3), which itself may have acted as part of the system, indicates that it is of post-medieval date. Although catchwork systems are generally found in western England and on relatively steep hillside pastures (S4), the ditches described here might have been used in a similar way. The now virtually dry valley to their north might have provided a source of water which could have flowed along the short horizontal gutters from west to east before draining along the field boundary into Fox's Beck. Alternatively, the ditches might simply be drainage ditches, although their layout seems rather elaborate and their spacing rather close for this more mundane function.

The postulated catchwork system is visible across an area measuring approximately 137m long and 34.5m wide. Later aerial photographs of the area (S5), taken in 1988, indicate that the system still survived at least partially as an earthwork at this date.
(S1-5)
S. Tremlett (NMP), 30 November 2004.