NHER 52032 (Cropmark and Earthwork record) - Cropmarks of medieval to post medieval field boundaries and enclosures

April 2009. Norfolk NMP.
The cropmarks of medieval to post medieval field boundaries and enclosures are visible on aerial photographs to the east of Swardeston common (S1-S3). The site is centred on TG 2029 0306. Some of the boundaries mapped are depicted on the 1847 Swardeston Tithe map (S4), however the aerial photographs reveal further additional components that may relate to earlier phases of enclosure around the village. The boundaries visible on aerial photographs appear to relate to at least two phases of enclosure and field layout. The eastern half of the site is characterised by rectilinear enclosed areas and fields that follow the general alignments of the property boundaries associated with Cavell Farm on the 1847 Tithe map (S4). The eastern part of the site consists of more irregular and sinuous boundaries following a slightly different alignment. It seems likely that both are broadly medieval to post medieval in date and may relate to former common edge enclosures, probably relating to stock enclosures and agricultural fields, although it is feasibly that some represent property boundaries associated with former domestic areas.
The boundaries to the east are notably more sinuous than those that form more rectilinear parcels of land within the western part of the site. Within the eastern part of the site a number of geological striped bands within the edge of the gravels are visible as cropmarks (S2). The alignment of these is coincidental with a few of the sinuous ditches mapped, making confident identification of archaeological features problematic, although the fact that one of these curvilinear boundaries is marked on the Tithe map indicates that such components existed within the fields and enclosures in this area.
S. Horlock (NMP), 1 April 2009.