NHER 50972 (Monument record) - Cropmarks of undated, but potentially late prehistoric, enclosures and boundaries - 60 Acre Field

March 2008. Norfolk NMP.
The cropmarks of possible rectilinear enclosure and/or field boundaries are visible on aerial photographs (S1-S2) within the Watlington cropmark complex (NHER 11724). The site is centred on TF 6321 1055. These cropmarks are located to the east of the main focus of the late Iron Age to Roman date settlement (NHER 39458, 50966) and follow a different alignment to the ditches associated with that phase of the site. Although the dating of the cropmark features is uncertain, it is suggested that these represent a pre-Roman phase. Fragmentary cropmarks following a similar alignment have been mapped to the south of the Thieves’ Bridge Road (NHER 50943) and these were tentatively dated to the late prehistoric period, possibly the Bronze Age to Iron Age, however it is worth noting that ditches of Neolithic date were excavated as part of the Watlington site (Whitmore pers. comm.).

The cropmarks are quite fragmentary, but would appear to suggest either an area of heavy subdivision within contemporary rectilinear enclosures or perhaps two rectangular enclosures overlying one another.
S. Massey (NMP), 05 March 2008.