NHER 43725 (Monument record) - Medieval peat cutting, originally an extension of Hickling Broad

March 2005. Norfolk NMP.
An area of medieval peat extraction is visible on aerial photographs (S1) to the immediate south of Hickling Broad (NHER 8387), of which this was originally part. The surrounded road and farm names incorporating ‘Decoy’ suggest that the peat workings were utilised as duck decoy once it had become water-filled.

To the south of the remaining area of Hickling Broad is a possible former extension of the Broad running alongside Decoy Road. Although it does not show as clearly as some of the other medieval peat working sites identified by aerial photographs, due to the increased colonisation by trees, there does appear to be traces of the characteristic dark and wet appearance of such cuttings (S1). The area is centred on TG 4128 2059 and measures approximately 405m long and 155m wide. The Broad as depicted on Faden’s (1797) and Bryant’s (1826) maps show a similar finger of water extending down (S2-S3). This land has obviously been drained and enclosed by the time the Potter Heigham Tithe map was produced in 1840 (S4).
S. Massey (NMP), 29 March 2005.