NHER 54634 (Monument) - Site of probable paddocks and enclosures of post medieval date at Hart’s Farm

May 2011. Norfolk NMP.
Remnants of probable paddocks or similar enclosures, trackways and boundaries, all of probable post medieval date, are visible as earthworks on aerial photographs (S1)-(S4), centred at TG 1208 0194. They surround the 17th-century farmhouse at Hart’s Farm (NHER 39784) and seem likely to be of contemporary date, although an earlier origin cannot be ruled out: a concentration of medieval pottery was previously identified at the site (NHER 30846). The site has largely been built over and there is no evidence that any earthworks still survive. It is likely that ditches identified by an archaeological evaluation undertaken prior to the building work (NHER 30846) correspond with some of those recorded here.
Immediately to the southeast the earthworks may once have joined with the track or boundary recorded as part of NHER 54635, which itself forms part of an extensive post medieval field pattern, with traces of potentially earlier elements, visible as cropmarks/soilmarks and extant boundaries stretching from the outskirts of Wymondham in the west to the parish boundary to the east. These surround the presumed medieval ringwork of Moot Hill (NHER 9438), and while most are depicted on Wymondham Tithe Map (S6) (and have therefore not been recorded) their origins and survival, in particular in relation to this more substantial monument, are perhaps worthy of consideration. This is also the area formerly occupied or bordered by Wymondham Common, shown on Faden’s 1797 Map of Norfolk (S5) for example. The other more complex and substantial elements not depicted on the Tithe Map, additional to the features described here, are recorded as NHER 36746, 54633 and 54635-6.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 31 May 2011.