NHER 52493 (Monument record) - Site of possible ridge and furrow of probable post medieval date

February 2010. Norfolk NMP.
Three areas of possible ridge and furrow are visible as low earthworks and/or vegetation marks on aerial photographs (S1)-(S2), centred at TG 2367 0547. The three areas may represent original ‘blocks’ but could equally be a product of the area being divided up by later drainage features. It is possible that the ‘furrows’, which are orientated towards the River Tas to their west, do in fact represent drainage or water management features of some kind (such as under drainage or even water meadows). However, on the photographs on which they are visible, they appear relatively convincing as ridge and furrow, the straightness of the furrows and ridges suggesting a post medieval date. Certainly, the areas of ridge and furrow seem to be linked to the drainage pattern evident on the aerial photographs and depicted on historic maps. (Most features not depicted on historic maps appear to be post medieval drains, tracks and boundaries of low archaeological significance, and these have consequently not been mapped by the NMP.) A few features appear to post-date the ridge and furrow, including the extraction pits depicted at the northern end of the site on historic Ordnance Survey maps (for example (S3)), and some of the more recent drainage features.
There is no evidence of earthworks here on more recent aerial photographs of the area.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 3 February 2010.