NHER 52145 (Cropmark and Earthwork record) - Iron Age or Roman field boundaries at Harford Park and Ride

Some of these cropmarks were previously recorded under NHER 9753 and 39268.

November 2009. Norfolk NMP.
The fragmentary cropmarks of possible enclosures and/or fields of probable late Iron Age or late Roman date are visible on aerial photographs (S1-S6) within the Harford Park and Ride development excavation area (NHER 39268). At least one of these ditches was encountered within the excavations and was interpreted as being Roman in date (S7). These features are likely to represent a phase of enclosure and fields either pre-dating or post-dating the main phase of Roman settlement encountered during the excavations (NHER 39268), the cropmarks of which have been recorded under NHER 9753. This site is centred on TG 2177 0399.
The clearest component of this site is the relatively broad ditch running diagonally across the northeastern corner of the field (S1-S2, S5). This ditch was dated to the Roman period within the excavations, but it was not established whether it was part of an earlier or later phase (S7-S8) than the main phase of Early Roman settlement (NHER 39268/9753). The diagonal ditch forms a T-shaped arrangement of ditches in this northeastern area of the site and were only clearly visible on two relatively early runs of photography (S1-S2), in particular those cropmarks visible in a ripening sugarbeet crop in 1964 (S2). The cropmark formation appears to have been better around the edges of the field, with the ditches recorded within the centre of the site being more fragmentary and less clearly defined. Within the eastern part of the field at least, the cropmarks would appear to suggest that there was an additional phase of enclosure and fields post-dating the prehistoric or Iron Age boundaries recorded under NHER 52141, but pre-dating the main Roman phase, early to mid second century AD (S8). Alternatively it may date to later in the Roman period. A series of fields and enclosures (NHER 52292) following this alignment have been identified on aerial photographs to the east within the Harford Farm cropmark complex and it is possible that the two areas are broadly contemporary. The date of these cropmarks is unknown, although it was noted that the layout is broadly comparable with the alignment of fence lines and boundaries associated with the Iron Age settlement excavated (NHER 9794 and 52314) (S9).
S. Horlock (NMP), 23 November 2009.