NHER 45019 (Monument record) - Cropmarks of enclosures and fields of probable late prehistoric to Roman date

September 2006. Norfolk NMP.
The cropmarks of enclosures and fields of probable late prehistoric to Roman date are visible on aerial photographs, Aldeby (S1-S4). The site is centred on TM 4565 9339 and covers quite a large area, approximately 570m by 440m. There are no finds in the vicinity to the aid the dating of these cropmarks. Evidence of Middle Iron Age iron working has been found approximately 300m to the southeast of the site (NHER 34099), although there is not obvious link between the two sites. These cropmarks are located within an area of undated and multi-phase cropmarks (NHER 45025). Other smaller groups of cropmarks following a similar alignment and pattern have been recorded separately to the southeast (NHER 44953) and the northwest (NHER 45024).

The site consists of a group of conjoined rectangular and rectilinear enclosures, the ditches of which are all broadly aligned NE-SW and NW-SE. The clearest component of the site is a comparatively broad ditched sub-rectangular enclosure located to the northeast of the site at TM 4576 9344 (S3). The southwestern section of the enclosure is less clear, although a parallel ditch running across in-between the two main ditches may define the edge of the enclosure, making it 50m by 30m. There is a possible entrance to the north of the enclosure, 3m across. The wider gap on the ditch to the east is likely to be the product of break in the cropmarks rather an additional entrance. A double ditched boundary or trackway joins the northwestern corner of the enclosure. Several linears cut through the interior space of the enclosure and it is not clear whether these represent contemporary subdividing ditches or different phases of enclosure. Both appear to cut across the possible southern boundary and therefore may be of a different date. The broader ditches enclosing this area may indicate that this is area demarcated for settlement or a specific activity. To the south of this enclosure at TM 4574 9340, TM 4558 9330 and TM 4575 9331 are a clusters of ditches possibly suggesting highly divided land, again this may indicate the demarcation of specific activity locales, or perhaps a palimpsest of ditches over several phases of the site. The larger areas defined by narrower ditches to the south of the broad ditched enclosure and trackway may be agricultural fields or stock enclosures. The cropmarks are quite fragmentary and therefore the average field size is hard to ascertain, although some of the ditches appear to define areas 60-80m across.

At the southwestern end of the site, centred on TM 4542 9337, is a group of curvilinear ditches that appear to have been incorporated into the more regular and rectilinear layout. These curvilinear features are only clearly visible in September 1970 within a beet crop (S2). It is possible that they are the remnants of agriculturally derived, such as the vehicle movement earlier in the crop cycle, although there are no signs of turning circles or links to access points or entrances, plus some of the curving lines or punctuated with angled turns and straight sections, which would not be expected of vehicle tracks. Therefore it remains a possibility that these large curvilinear ditches are archaeological in origin. The ditches appear to form large and irregular ‘figure of eight’ shape, measuring approximately 175m by up to 95m. Some portions of these curvilinear enclosures link in with the more regular and straight ditches of the main field system. This could indicate that these curving fields are earlier enclosures that have been incorporated into the later rectilinear layout.
S. Massey (NMP), 01 September 2006.