NHER 52049 (Cropmark and Earthwork record) - Possible Bronze Age ring ditch with central pit feature

April 2009. Norfolk NMP.
The cropmarks of a small ring ditch, possibly representing the remains of a Bronze Age round barrow, a later prehistoric or Roman date roundhouse or later agricultural structure, are visible on aerial photographs (S1) to the west of a series of undated linear cropmarks (NHER 52004). The site is centred on TG 2965 0842.

The ring ditch measures approximately 9.9m in internal diameter, which is quite small for a Bronze Age round barrow, although examples of this size are known. An alternative interpretation is that the ring ditch represent the remains of eavesdrip gully from a roundhouse. This site is located within an area of undated cropmarks relating to field boundaries and enclosures, which may be late prehistoric to Roman, or medieval to post medieval in date (NHER 52004), so it is possible that this ring ditch forms part of the earlier elements on the site. This ring ditch could represent the site of a domestic structure of this period, although the slightly oval shape of the cropmark could indicate that this does not relate to a roundhouse.

The ring ditch appears to contain a central pit, oval on plan, which measures 2m by 1.4m, although this mark is showing slightly differently to the ditch on the cropmarks, being much more pronounced, and may represent a geological feature, or a more recent agricultural mark.
E. Bales (NMP), 7 April 2009.

January 2014. Geophysical Survey.
Magnetometer survey of site of proposed new Water Treatment Works and section associated pipeline scheme.
The survey identified a circular faint circular anomaly that clearly corresponds with this ring-ditch. The weak response way indicates a lack of magnetically enhanced fill or that this ditch has been eroded by ploughing since the photographs of the cropmarks were taken. Due to the weak nature of the anomaly there was little additional that could be said about the probable form of the ring-ditch.
See NHER 62625 for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 4 April 2018.

April-September 2014. Excavation and Watching Brief.
Target excavation of ring-ditch prior to construction of new water treatment works.
As suggested by the cropmark evidence the ring-ditch was found to be continuous, although it was not particularly substantial, which explains the weak nature of the geophysical anomaly. Finds were limited to a small amount of abraded prehistoric pottery and several worked flints. That it was not necessarily prehistoric was suggested by the fact that it appeared to truncate a number of possible horticultural features, one of which produced Roman pottery. It is suggested that it may well have been a drainage gully around a stack stand, its diameter being smaller than ring-ditches typically interpreted as features associated with either round barrows or later mill mound. A sub-rectangular pit exposed within the ring-ditch almost certainly corresponds with the discrete cropmark. This feature produced a single fragment of medieval or post-medieval ceramic building material but no evidence for its function.
See NHER 62625 for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 4 April 2018.