NHER 52359 (Cropmark and Earthwork record) - Cropmarks of possible Neolithic long barrow or mortuary enclosure

October 2009. Norfolk NMP.
A very faint possible oval enclosure is visible as a cropmark on aerial photographs (S1), centred at TG 1728 1876, on land to the east of Haveringland Road, Felthorpe. The cropmark is extremely faint, and it is possible that it is geological, rather than archaeological in nature. The enclosure is a slightly irregular oval in plan, up to 2.3m in width, enclosing an area measuring 31m by a maximum of 21m. A complete, unbroken ditch circuit is just about visible but not entirely certain, as the feature is extremely faint.
Due to the morphology and size of the feature, and the fact that there are no apparent entrances or breaks in the ditch, it may in fact represent a possible ovoid enclosure or barrow of prehistoric date, a possible 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 (S2) for a discussion).
The enclosure is situated on a slight incline, looking over a watercourse to the southwest, a site that may have held some significance during the Neolithic, indeed a Neolithic polished flint axehead, and other flint implements, were found 380m to the south east (NHER 19561) and a second scatter of Neolithic flint implements 173m to the southwest (NHER 19555).
E. Bales (NMP), October 2009.