NHER 7235 (Monument record) - Launditch linear earthwork, which may be of Iron Age or Saxon date

1954. Excavations at road crossing. See (S1)
Middle Saxon Ipswich Ware recorded but later reidentified as medieval.
See definitive publication (S2) and (S3) and (S4) in file. The results of this excavation are also summarised in (S5) and reported in (S11).
E. Rose (NAU) 6 July 1984.

1984.
Central section alone scheduled (but largely destroyed) and was large bank crossing Roman road. Remainder probably lesser boundary.
E. Rose (NAU), 6 July 1984.

30 August 1990. NAU air photography.

1992. Excavation.
Investigations at crossing of Roman road (NHER 2796) suggests Launditch is Iron Age, pre-dating road, and not Early Saxon. Iron Age pottery, flints and slag.
See report (S6) and published article (S7) for further details. The results of this work are also summarised in (S8).
The associated microfiche archive is now held by the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2008.54).
E. Rose (NLA). Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 2 March 2014 and 5 May 2019.

26 June 1996. NLA aerial photography.
Cropmarks of Launditch visible to south of Litcham Road (Context 1).
S. Massey (NLA) 24 September 2001.

1996. Watching Brief.
Monitoring of Beeston-Gressenhall 11Kv cable trench just south of the junction between the Launditch and Salters Lane. The uppermost fill of the ditch was seen as a change in colour in the base of the cable trench. These observations confirmed that the ditch (and its accompanying earthwork) continued south of the junction with the Roman road.
See report (S9) for further details. The results of this work are also summarised in (S10).
The associated archive has been deposited with the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2008.54).
A. Cattermole (NLA) 27 June 2005. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 2 March 2014 and 5 May 2019.

1999.
See (S6).
D. Robertson (NLA) 29 July 2005.

October 2005. visited surviving earthwork to north of Salter's Lane.
Earthwork is thickly overgrown - spruces, brambles, nettles, oaks, etc.
To south of Salter's Lane no obvious earthwork - a wide hedgerow marks the feature's location.
D. Robertson (NLA) 26 October 2005.

September 2023. Wendling Beck and Fransham Aerial Investigation and Mapping (AIM) Project.
Parts of the linear earthwork described above, which may be of Iron Age or Saxon date, are visible as earthworks and cropmarks on visualised lidar data and aerial photographs. These elements are now recorded separately as NHER 66995. Although the conjectured line of the earthwork extended across much of the project area, no other earthworks or cropmarks relating to it could be identified.
S. Tremlett (Norfolk Historic Environment Service), 27 September 2023.