NHER 52458 (Cropmark and Earthwork record) - Cropmarks of possible Neolithic mortuary enclosure or long barrow

November 2009. Norfolk NMP.
The cropmarks of a possible Neolithic mortuary enclosure or long barrow may be visible on aerial photographs to the north of the Loddon Road, Framingham Pigot (S1). The site is centred on TG 2799 0428 and is located on the lower reaches of a narrow valley leading into the valley of a minor a tributary of the River Yare, The Beck, to the southeast. This site consists of a group of cropmarks of uncertain archaeological significance, which have a slightly blurred and indistinct appearance. It is feasible that they are either partly or entirely the result of underlying geological features and possibly also marks created through the differential application of fertilizer within the southern part of the field. Despite these possible non-archaeological origins for the cropmarks it was decided to map them, as they could not convincingly be attributed to either of the non-archaeological explanations.
The cropmarks, if archaeological, form the possible shape of an incomplete rectangular enclosure, measuring 85m by 30m and with ditches varying in width from 1-3m. It is feasible, given the shape and size of this possible enclosure that it represents the remains of a Neolithic mortuary enclosure or long barrow. Two Neolithic flint axes and an adze were found approximately 1 km to the east and southeast of the site (NHER 9881 &13223). Prehistoric flints and potboilers (NHER 28992, 28994 & 30308) have also been recovered from the wider vicinity of the site. A more convincing example of this sort of site has been mapped approximately 100m to the southeast (NHER 52441). Given how comparatively underrepresented these monuments are in Norfolk in general, it seems unlikely that two such sites would be so closely located. However such close groupings have been recorded elsewhere, for example in Hampshire (S2). Given the ambiguity over the archaeological origin of these cropmarks a high level of uncertainty must remain over the interpretation of this site as a Neolithic enclosure
S. Horlock (NMP), 04 November 2009.