NHER 49474 (Monument record) - Cropmarks of probable prehistoric to Roman enclosures, fields and trackways

May 2007. Norfolk NMP.
Cropmarks of enclosures, fields and trackways of unknown, but probable late prehistoric to Roman date are visible on aerial photographs within arable to the west of Upton village (S1-S4). The site is centred on TG 3942 1279. No finds are associated with this site, however similar groups of cropmarks in this area have been associated with Roman finds and to a lesser extent Iron Age material (NHER 49468-9).
A rectilinear enclosure is located at TG 3947 1289, measuring 44m by 34m. A trackway runs to the immediate south of this, aligned broadly northeast to southwest. The line of the trackway is followed a by a number of parallel trackways and boundaries running across the site. A series of perpendicular ditches run in-between theses tracks dividing the land into fields and paddocks. This pattern of land division is continued by NHER 49469 to the southwest, however the main trackways at this site run northwest to southeast, instead of northeast to southwest. The prevailing alignments of the site are the same and the two areas of enclosures and fields are likely to be contemporary.
The broadly northwest to southeast and northeast to southwest of the majority of these fields and trackways is consistent with other large areas of settlements, enclosures and fields recorded within this area (NHER 49427-8, 49431, 49440, 49468-9), suggesting a once extensive agricultural landscape spreading for several kilometres. This pattern of fields divided by frequently spaced and long-distance trackways is a relatively common feature of the archaeological of the margins of the Broads. It is generally thought that all of these systems are Roman in date. The best example probably being NHER 6096 in the Beighton and Cantley parishes.
S. Massey (NMP), 23 May 2007.