NHER 43400 (Monument record) - Site of undated field system south of Winterton-On-Sea

March 2006. Norfolk NMP.
A group of undated linear ditches, probably representing field boundaries and/or trackways, is visible as cropmarks on aerial photographs (S1)-(S5), centred at TG 4945 1856. They share their east to west and north to south orientation with another group of ditches identified 270m to the northwest (NHER 43399). Unlike this other site, however, they cut across and presumably pre-date boundaries depicted on 19th century maps, e.g. (S6), including Hemsby Road which is still extant. Their orientation also contrasts with a more extensive field system to the west (NHER 13073), which partially overlaps the site. The field system has been dated tentatively to the medieval to early post medieval period. If this dating is correct, it seems likely that the boundaries and trackways recorded here are pre-medieval, probably later prehistoric or Roman, in date.

It should be noted that the division between these three phases of land division (NHER 43400, 13073 and 43399) was not always clear, and that elements grouped with one site may in fact have formed part of another, or may have remained in use during more than one phase of activity. In particular, the double ditched boundary visible between TG 4901 1910 and TG 4918 1853 has been recorded as part of the medieval field system NHER 13073, but it could equally be associated with the possibly earlier field boundaries described here. A further group of linear features, perhaps defining a trackway, visible 55m to the south (NHER 43404) could also be associated with these early land boundaries. In addition, some of the mapped ditches could be modern in origin, such as the trackway at TG 4967 1883. Furthermore, due to a lack of suitable control points on the relevant aerial photograph (S4), the ditches at TG 4942 1860 were sketched rather than being mapped from a rectified part of the image.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 17 March 2006.