NHER 50816 (Landscape record) - Site of probable Bronze Age linear barrow cemetery

January 2008. Norfolk NMP.
A probable Bronze Age linear barrow cemetery is visible as cropmarks, and possibly, in one case (NHER 36447), slight earthworks, on aerial photographs (S1)-(S4), between TG 2730 1584 and TG 2760 1556. It is aligned northwest to southeast, and comprises three ring ditches, one of which encircles a possible mound (NHER 36447 and 50813-4), and a C-shaped hengiform enclosure (NHER 50815). The latter may be of Late Neolithic and/or Early Bronze Age date, and therefore the earliest component, but the remainder appear to represent the site of Bronze Age round barrows. A further ring ditch (NHER 28150) lies 215m to the north of the cemetery's western end. The site occupies the northwestern edge of the higher ground overlooking the confluence of two tributaries of the River Bure. Two probable prehistoric enclosures (NHER 29561 and NHER 50758) perhaps used for settlement or for ceremonial purposes, lie approximately 500m to the southwest. Prehistoric material, including worked flints of probable Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age date, has been found in their vicinity (e.g. NHER 19345-6). The cemetery is surrounded by the cropmarks of several phases of field system (NHER 50811), some of which clearly respect the barrows (see NHER 36447, for example).
The cemetery measures approximately 408m long and 44.5m wide. There is a clear linear alignment, oriented northwest to southeast, although barrow NHER 36447 is displaced slightly to the north.
Also see (S5)
S. Tremlett (NMP), 22 January 2008.