NHER 38670 (Monument record) - Earthworks of extraction pits of unknown date

June 2004, Norfolk NMP.
Probable extraction pits are visible as earthworks on aerial photographs (S1-2), centred at TG 2226 3868. They seem most likely to be the result of the extraction of a mineral, probably iron ore, along a seam. The glacial sands of north-east Norfolk contain ironstone pebbles (S3, p.187) and iron extraction and smelting pits of Romano-British and Saxo-Norman date have been identified along the Cromer-Weybourne ridge, e.g. NHER 6351 and 6353 5.7km to the north-west. The placename 'Shrieking Pits', which is often associated with iron working, occurs 3.25km to the east (NHER 6787). The pits could date to any period from the Iron Age onwards. They do not seem to be as fresh as the earthworks associated with the World War Two military training area (NHER 38621) and seem likely to date to the inter-war period at the latest.

The main area of extraction consists of a shallow, elongated pit measuring approximately 130m long and 20m wide. Within this a series of pits measuring roughly 3-5m in diameter are visible but these have not been mapped since they lie within the larger pit whose alignment they follow. A number of rather amorphous pits to the east appear to be associated features. Further pits may survive to the north but cannot be distinguished from the remains of the military training area. Later aerial photographs indicate that the earthworks were levelled by 1963.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 30 June 2004.