NHER 57495 (Monument record) - Probable medieval to post medieval drainage or field boundary earthworks

December 2012. Norfolk NMP.
Earthworks of probable post medieval drainage ditches are visible on aerial photographs (S1-S3) to the east and west of Hargham Road, Attleborough. The earthworks are centred on TM 0379 9388. It is also possible that they may be medieval to post medieval field boundaries, and a possible banked platform is visible within one of the ditches, suggesting potential for a medieval toft boundary, however this is far from certain.
E. Ford (NMP), 11 December 2012.

May 2017. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of proposed development site.
Several of the trenches excavated where positioned in order to investigate the earthwork features identified to the west of the Hargham Road. These were found to correspond with a series of substantial, parallel ditches. Unfortunately no dating evidence was recovered from the lower fills of these features so their original date remains uncertain. Material recovered from their upper fills included single sherds of ?Roman and medieval pottery and small amounts of post-medieval pottery, brick and clay tobacco pipe. This material demonstrates that these ditches were still at least partially open during the late post-medieval period. It is notable that whilst the 1st Edition O.S map shows no related features or boundaries these ditches nevertheless appear to correspond with a patch of open ground within the trees depicted in this parcel of land. In one of the trenches the uppermost part of the ditches had been deliberately infilled with material containing tin cans and other modern debris.
A trench placed across the southern margin of the possible banked platform revealed no evidence that could be directly associated with such a feature. Several ditches of possible medieval date were however identified and whilst these were probably the continuations of features identified elsewhere it is perhaps notable that the majority of the medieval finds recovered came from this trench. Samples taken from the ditches in this trench were also found to contain frequent charred cereal grains – clear evidence for either crop processing or food preparation in the vicinity.
See report (S4) and NHER 62523 for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 9 July 2017.

October-November 2018. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of large proposed development site to east of Hargham Road.
This work saw the excavation of three trenches across the line of the 'L'-shaped earthwork recorded on this side of the road. This proved to be associated with a series of intercutting ditches, suggesting this feature had been open and maintained for a reasonably length of time. Although one of these ditches produced a small number of late medieval/early post-medieval pottery sherds, several were found to contain post-medieval material of more recent date. An adjacent pit also produced a range of post-medieval finds.
See report (S5) and NHER 65442 for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 9 March 2022.