NHER 52446 (Monument record) - Earthworks of park pale and boundary for Kirby Hall Park

November 2009. Norfolk NMP.
The earthworks of a major multiple ditched boundary that formed the park pale and boundary for Kirby Hall Park are visible on aerial photographs (S1-S2). The site is centred on TG 2712 0479. Kirby Bedon is recorded as having a medieval deer park (NHER 42456) (S3). In Owen Sheppard’s 1626 memorandum of the Kirby estate it states ‘All which houses and premises aforeseyd are scituated in a park aswell palled as any parke in England highe inoughe to keepe any redd deare and it strongly done, the compase of it is more then 3 myle abought being all good pasture meadow and wood being divided into 4 quarters with rayle and quicksett.’ (S4). It is assumed that this major boundary relates to the medieval park pale, although it is possible that it only relates the post medieval park boundary as depicted on Faden’s map of 1797 (S5). It is possible that the extent and shape of the park altered over time. However the deer park was said to have been three miles in circuit in 1626 (S4, S6) and the extent of the park shown on Faden also equates to approximately this distance. This would imply that the earthworks visible may be medieval in origin, although some alteration or elaboration in the post medieval period is also possible.
The boundary visible on the aerial photographs consists of up to six parallel ditches that run along the northern side of the A146 Loddon Road. Reference to Faden’s map of 1797 (S5) indicates that this was the boundary of Kirby Hall Park, in the 1790s at least, see above for discussion of changes to park extent. The ditches vary in width from 1m to 3m, and are between 3m and 7m apart. It must be noted that only three ditches could be traced with any certainty towards the northwestern part of the site. It is not clear whether this is due to variations in preservation or land use or reflects an actual design feature. At the southeastern end of the site the ditches terminate at the point where the post medieval, or medieval to post medieval, road to the hall (NHER 42444) leads from the main road. This is also said to have been the location of Sir John Bernoy's White Gate, the entrance to Kirby Hall (see NHER 9907). It is therefore possible that the ditches forming the park boundary become more numerous and impressive within the area of the gated entrance to the park.

A possible bank running along the outer and inner sides of the innermost major ditch may be visible in 1956 (S2), although the positioning of the shadows in relationship to the alignment of the linears in these and nearly all other available photographs makes any definite identification of such a feature extremely difficult. This feature was therefore not added to the NMP mapping. It would be common for a park pale to consist of outer bank augmented with a fenceline of stakes. It is feasible that a bank existed around the extreme outer edge of the multiple ditched boundary and that evidence of this has been lost through road maintenance to the adjoining Loddon Road since the medieval and post medieval periods.

The line of the inner main ditch of this multiple boundary is depicted on the 1812 Kirby Bedon Enclosure map (S7). The line of this ditch continues along the Loddon road to the northwest of the recorded earthworks, until the road meets Trumpery Lane and the parish boundary. Assuming that the extent of the Park on Faden is correct, the edge of the medieval deer park followed this Lane northwards to the Kirby Road. No earthwork or cropmark traces of this boundary have yet been detected along this section of the route, however a dashed line set back from the road depicted on the 1812 Enclosure map could indicate the former line of the multiple ditched park boundary. Along the eastern edge of the park an appropriate linear parcel of land is defined running alongside Sallow Lane on the Enclosure map. It is likely that this also defines the former line of the multiple ditched park boundary. No sign of it could clearly be discerned on the aerial photographs along the southern extent of the park.
S. Horlock (NMP), 03 November 2009.