NHER 43724 (Monument record) - Chapman’s Broad, medieval peat cutting, part of Hickling Broad

March 2006. Norfolk NMP.
The medieval peat cutting known as Chapman’s Broad is visible on aerial photographs (S1). This extraction area was part of the larger Hickling Broad peat workings recorded under (NHER 8387). The site is centred on TG 4252 2191. The now silted-up peat cuttings are clearly visible as sunken areas within the surrounding marsh in 1946 (S1), with a darker and wetter fill. This area of extraction appears to have originally been continuous with the wider Hickling Broad complex. The separation occurred as part of the 1808 parliamentary enclosure of Hickling (S2; p97). However this area is shown as being water-filled on the 1842 Hickling Tithe map (S3). Further possible areas of extraction have been identified on the aerial photographs to the east (NHER 27284). These were probably originally joined to Chapman’s Broad, although these are likely to have been for the extraction of clay, rather than peat, or possibly both, as they are located within the former alluvial Thurne valley. The soils map for the area would indicate that Chapman’s Broad was predominantly cut for peat extraction.
S. Massey (NMP), 13 March 2006.