NHER 53487 (Cropmark and Earthwork record) - Site of undated linear ditches, including possible Neolithic funerary monument

April 2010. Norfolk NMP.
Linear and curvilinear ditches of uncertain date and function are visible as cropmarks on aerial photographs (S1), centred at TG 1219 0664. Some, which follow the same general pattern as the modern fields, are likely to represent field boundaries of post medieval date. Others, which follow a different alignment and orientation, are likely to be earlier; these include a linear ditch which appears to respect the northeast side of a ring ditch, probably a round barrow, which is also visible as a cropmark (NHER 15762). Approximately 5m to the east of this ring ditch (at TG 1222 0661), a cluster of fragmentary ditches could mark the outline of an elongated sub-rectangular or trapezoidal enclosure oriented northwest-southeast. The morphology and archaeological context of this postulated enclosure is reminiscent of Neolithic long barrow and mortuary enclosure sites, but while this interpretation remains a possibility, the fragmentary nature of the cropmarks makes it extremely uncertain. That some or all of the ditches are contemporary with one or more of the phases of activity represented by more extensive cropmarks approximately 150m to the north (NHER 53488) is also likely.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 20 April 2010.