NHER 42201 (Monument record) - Medieval to post medieval enclosure

November 2005. Norfolk NMP.
Earthworks of a small square enclosure of medieval to post medieval date are visible on aerial photographs (S1-S3). This enclosure is located at TG 4652 0696 to the south of Marsh Cottages and the Fleet Drain. The enclosure is roughly square in plan with rounded corners. It is defined on three sides by a ditch that measures up to 5m wide and by a drainage ditch on the fourth.The drainage ditch has a curvilinear form and may have originated as a natural channel. The enclosure measures 29m across externally. Its location, on marshland that developed during the post Roman period, indicates that it is of medieval to post medieval date. It is similar to other small enclosures visible as earthworks on the marshland, with another one recorded 300m to the east (NHER 42200). Information from [1] suggests that these enclosures are probably sheep cotes. They were used to pen sheep overnight so that their manure could be collected. The manure was then transported from the marshes for use as fertiliser on arable fields on the ‘upland’ (S5). The field had been ploughed and the earthworks levelled by 1993 (S4) but the enclosure was still visible as a soilmark.
J. Albone (NMP), 29 November 2005