NHER 53321 (Cropmark and Earthwork) - Cropmarks of a ring ditch, probably a Bronze Age barrow

December 2009. Norfolk NMP.
The cropmarks of a ring ditch, probably representing the remains of a Bronze Age round barrow (S1) are visible on aerial photographs to the northeast of Arminghall Lane. The site is centred on TG 2502 0508. The ring ditch is 16m in diameter and there is a wide break in the ditch to the west, although this is likely to be due to cropmark formation and not necessarily reflective of the original monument. This possible barrow is located to the east of a large dispersed group of barrows, the focus of which is likely to have been the Arminghall henge (NHER 6100), which was located at the confluence of the Rivers Yare and Tas. This ring ditch is located on the valleyside overlooking a former channel and minor valley that runs towards the River Yare. Although a barrow is the most likely interpretation for this ring ditch, it is worth noting that it lies within an area of cropmarks relating more than one phase of enclosures and fields (NHER 53322-3). It is therefore feasible that this ring ditch relates to the eavesdrip gully of a roundhouse, although given the context and close vicinity to the Arminghall barrow group, a barrow seems the most plausible interpretation.
S. Horlock (NMP), 29 December 2009.