NHER 27660 (Monument) - Medieval to post medieval field system

September 2005. Norfolk NMP.
Cropmarks of field system of possible medieval to post medieval date and other undated ditches are visible on aerial photographs (S1 to S3). These cropmarks are centred on TG 4688 1490 and lie to the north of Ormesby Little Broad. A west to east aligned ditch between TG 4678 1489 and TG 4696 1490 divides the modern field into two parts. Each of these is also divided by a north to south aligned ditch creating four separate fields within the field system. The northern boundary of the northwestern field is marked by a double ditch and could define a 5m wide trackway. The alignment of the boundaries in the field system does not correspond to that of the modern field pattern. However, one of the boundaries does join a modern boundary at the southern end of the site. The boundaries of this field system are not marked on the Ormesby St Michael tithe map (S4) or later maps, but it is likely that they are of medieval to post medieval date. A roughly southwest to northeast aligned ditch cuts across the central part of the group. This ditch seems to join the main west to east ditch of the field system and could be of earlier or later date. A second ditch further to the north, which shares a similar alignment appears to stop at a north to south ditch in the field system and is probably of a later date. A T shaped arrangement of ditches in the southern part of the group also lies on a southwest to northeast axis. These ditches appear to relate to a different fragmentary field system of an unknown earlier date. Other short sections of ditch cropmark on a similar alignment within the group may also relate to this undated field system.
J. Albone (NMP), 27 September 2005