NHER 8041 (Monument record) - Undated iron working site in Stanninghall Wood

Formerly known as Hills and Holes - name often indicates ironworking sites.

1954.
Wood removed and replanted - masses of iron slag found, samples of raw material.
R.R. Clarke (NCM).

26 May 1983. Visit.
The replanting must have been confined to the section east of the main road, which is now pine plantations. The section west of road is still deciduous and still full of little depressions and mounds, grown over. Hills and Holes Farm to north now called Hill Farm.
E. Rose (NAU), 26 May 1983.

January 2008. Norfolk NMP.
The iron working site described above is visible on aerial photographs (S1)-(S2) as the earthworks of pits and mounds, centred at TG 2601 1700. The earthworks are visible across much of the area of Stanninghall Wood, the latter as depicted on 19th and early 20th century maps. (Their extent has been mapped using the boundary of the wood shown on the Tithe Map (S3) and the Ordnance Survey 2nd edition 25 inch map (S4), together with the 1946 aerial photographs (S1), but the pits themselves have not been mapped.) The whole of this area has been classified as Replanted Ancient Woodland, suggesting that it has been under woodland cover since at least AD 1600. Whether the iron workings ever extended beyond the boundary of the wood, for example into the area to the southeast (around TG 2609 1681) which has now been planted up and forms part of the wood, is not known. This area was pasture in 1946 (S1), when although indistinct marks are visible within it they are not readily identifiable as archaeological features.

The earthworks have been compared to other iron workings identified on the Cromer – Holt ridge (S5), at least some of which are regarded as dating to the late Saxon to medieval period. A similar date may be plausible for the site described here, although there is no direct evidence either way. As has been described above, the portion of the wood to the east of the road was replanted in the 1950s. This area has clearly been substantially levelled on the 1955 aerial photographs (S2), while the earthworks to the west remain. It should be noted, however, that some conifers – presumably representing deliberate plantings rather than semi-natural woodland – are shown to the east of the road on the Ordnance Survey 1st edition 6 inch map (S6), suggesting that there is a long history of plantation (albeit on a smaller scale) in this area.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 9 January 2008.