NHER 50598 (Cropmark and Earthwork record) - Site of possible Neolithic long barrow or mortuary enclosure

9 July 1994. NLA air photography.
Cropmark of long barrow.
D. Edwards (NLA).

Previously recorded as part of NHER 20477.
A. Cattermole (NLA), 23 October 2007.

January 2008. Norfolk NMP.
An oval enclosure is visible as cropmarks on aerial photographs (S1)-(S3), centred at TG 2609 1624. It probably represents the site of a Neolithic long barrow or mortuary enclosure, similar in its shape and dimensions to other such sites, some surrounding mounds, mapped in Norfolk and elsewhere (see Albone et al. 2007 (S4) for a discussion). This interpretation is reinforced by the fact that several other probable prehistoric funerary sites have been mapped in the vicinity, although a possible second Neolithic enclosure (NHER 50807) 470m to the southeast may not be of archaeological origin. It should also be noted that the enclosure described here shares its orientation with the modern field boundaries, and the possibility that it is of more recent origin cannot be ruled out.
The enclosure is a slightly irregular oval in plan, measuring 39m long and 23m wide. A complete, unbroken ditch circuit is just about visible but not entirely certain, as its cropmark is overlain by tramlines and other more recent marks. Linear ditches visible as cropmarks within the ditch circuit may reflect a remodelling of the barrow or enclosure, but as they are aligned with other, presumably later linear cropmarks visible in the vicinity, they have been recorded as part of the latter (NHER 50805), rather than as part of the site described here.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 21 January 2008.