NHER 27331 (Monument record) - Enclosure and field system of possible Bronze Age date north of Rollesby Hall

July 2006. Norfolk NMP.
An enclosure, field boundaries and a trackway are visible as cropmarks on aerial photographs (S1)-(S4). The enclosure is centred at TG 4532 1720. Its size is suggestive of a small settlement, such as a farmstead, although no internal features, such as roundhouses, are visible. The linear cropmarks to its south and west are oriented on the same axis and probably represent the remnants of contemporary fields and trackways. Abundant burnt and struck flint, and also pottery, predominantly of Bronze Age date, recovered from the field surface and excavated features across the southernmost part of the site (NHER 34011-34013; S5), suggests a Bronze Age date for the complex. In addition, it is located a short distance down slope of two probable Bronze Age round barrows or similar funerary monuments (NHER 34895 and 34896). This kind of physical relationship between secular and funerary sites is not unusual in the Middle and Late Bronze Age, an example being South Lodge on Cranborne Chase (S6). At the same time, the possibility that the cropmarks represent a later phase of activity, located on top of a relatively open and insubstantial earlier prehistoric site, cannot be entirely ruled out. A trackway, visible together with associated linear ditches 45m to the west (NHER 32062), is likely to date to the later prehistoric (probably Iron Age) period, and some Romano-British and medieval material was recovered with the earlier finds.

The enclosure is sub-rectangular in plan and double-ditched in places. It measures approximately 56m long (internally 43m) and 43m wide (internally 32m). An apparent entrance at its southeast corner, which is met by what may be a narrow trackway, appears to be genuine, although a narrow ditch across it suggests it may have been closed off at some time. To the south and west a rectilinear pattern of probable field boundaries is visible, across an area measuring approximately 715m by 625m. To the south, these are aligned off a wide trackway, which is itself visible between at least TG 4542 1708 and TG 4504 1720; another part of it may be visible further to the west (between TG 4478 1729 and TG 4464 1739), where it is recorded as part of NHER 32062. To the north, a number of the cropmarks recorded as part of NHER 27335 may also be contemporary with this postulated Bronze Age complex.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 27 July 2006.
(Updated from an entry written on 19 April 2005.)

September 2016. Geophysical Survey.
Magnetometer survey of proposed development site south of Repps Road.
This survey identified a north-east to south-west aligned linear anomaly that potentially represents a feature associated the north-westernmost cropmark in this group. There was no evidence for surviving sub-surface remains associated with the perpendicular cropmark recorded to the south.
See report (S7) and NHER 65557 for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 3 May 2022.

May 2020. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of proposed development site south of Repps Road.
This phase of work saw the investigation of the eastern half of the area examined by the preceding geophysical survey. The excavated trenches coincided with two of the cropmarks in this group, both of which were found to be associated with surviving ditches (including one had not been identified by the geophysical survey). No dating evidence was recovered.
See report (S8) and NHER 65557 for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 3 May 2022.

September 2020. Excavation.
Targeted excavation at site south of Repps Road.
The final phase of work at this location prior to development saw further investigation of two intersecting ditches associated with cropmarks recorded under NHER 32062. Both are regarded as prehistoric and it should be noted that the north-east to south-west alignment of the earlier feature is very similar to that of the nearby cropmarks of this group. Although this feature produced no clear dating evidence the later ditch contained Late Iron Age pottery. Finds from the site were again exclusively of prehistoric date.
See report (S9) and NHER 65557 for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 3 May 2022.