NHER 6714 (Monument record) - Site of Bishop's Manor

Evidence of building ?Bishop's Palace pre Blickling Hall. See [1].
(S1) says documentary evidence suggests it was not demolished until 18th century.
Site shown as 'the old mannor' on (S2).

NAU aerial photography shows portion of cruciform cropmark of building on this exact site.
E. Rose (NAU)

1985.
Scatter of medieval sherds over site.
Earthworks in river meadows and fine bank running north to south to river are probably medieval and associated with palace site.
Identified P. Wade-Martins (NAU)
E. Rose (NAU) 26 June 1985. NCM 250.985.

August-September 2000. Community Excavation. Contexts 1 to 65.
Trenching by NAU and Broadland District Council summer holiday programme revealed building foundations, surfaces, ditches and a pit/hearth. The lack of any domestic evidence suggests that this building may have been a chapel or agricultural building associated with the manorial site.
See report (S3). The results of this work are also summarised in (S6). See also newspaper article (S7).
An archive associated with this work has been deposited with Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2024.182).
D. Gurney (NLA), 3 January 2001. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 20 October 2024.

19 July 1994. NLA air photography
Photographs taken show cropmark enclosure and several building ranges, one of which appears to be cruciform.
S. Massey (NLA), 19 April 2001.

February 2001. Earthwork Survey.
Irregular L-shaped platform with sunken outlines of two possible buildings. Indicates a possible range of buildings and earthwork boundary features.
See report (S4) for further details.
D. Gurney (NLA), 8 March 2001.

August 2001. Community Excavation. From context 100.
Medieval fish ponds and boundary ditches.
See report (S5) for further details. The results of this work are also summarised in (S8).
An archive associated with this work has been deposited with Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2023.166).
J. Allen (NLA), 4 September 2001. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 16 October 2023.

December 2022. Aylsham and Brampton Aerial Investigation and Mapping (AIM) Project.
The cropmarks and earthworks of features associated with the medieval Bishop's Manor site at Moorgate are seen on aerial photographs and on recent 2017 visualised lidar data (S9-15). The cropmarks of the structural remains relating to the site of the manor house and a chapel are seen in the centre of the area (centred at approximately TG1699 3021). Sections of earthwork bank and cropmark ditch, in the west of the area (centred at approximately TG 1691 3029) may relate to an enclosure surrounding the manor site. Raised earthwork mounds and ponds can also be seen on the visualised lidar in the north of the site (centred at TG 1703 3035) which may relate to fishponds associated with the manor site. Further banks and ditches seen across the site and may relate to former boundaries. A group of cropmark pits are visible on (S9) in the centre of the area (centred approximately at TG 1694 3022) and have been mapped by extent. The pit features may be archaeological in origin and may relate to the medieval manor site. However, it is also possible that the features could relate to the cropmarks of geological features which are also seen across the area on the aerial photographs. The manor site is in close relation to a series of medieval to post-medieval field boundaries (NHER 66275) to the south and west. As the lidar survey was flown relatively recently (2017) it is like that the features recorded as earthworks still survive. For further discussion see project report (S16).
The mapped extent of this site has been extended to the north and west [2].
J. Powell (Norfolk Historic Environment Service), 15 December 2022.