Record Details

NHER Number:15911
Type of record:Monument
Name:Possible Iron Age to Roman farmstead

Summary

A rectilinear enclosure, probably an Iron Age to Romano-British farmstead, is visible as a cropmark on aerial photographs. It is surrounded by the cropmarks of ditches which probably define associated trackways and fields or paddocks. Although no dating evidence has been recovered from the site, its morphology, which is comparable to settlements of this probable date mapped in Lincolnshire, suggests this interpretation. It is relevant in this respect that the modern road (the B1145) on the east side of the site is thought to follow the route of a Roman road (NHER 41037). The enclosure is one of several sites thought to date to this period that have been identified in the surrounding area. Other cropmarks mapped in the immediate vicinity, e.g. NHER 36762 to the north or NHER 21128 to the west, may be contemporary and/or related features.

Images - none

Location

Grid Reference:TG 3058 3517
Map Sheet:TG33NW
Parish:KNAPTON, NORTH NORFOLK, NORFOLK

Full description

Cropmark. 30 July 1975.
NAU air photography.
Cropmarks of two phase rectangular enclosure and recent field boundaries.
See overlay 6" scale for NHER Maps TG 33 NW, compiled March 1980.
Comp. D. Edwards 17 March 1980.

December 2004. Norfolk NMP.
The rectangular enclosure described above is visible as a cropmark on aerial photographs (S1). It is surrounded by the cropmarks of associated ditches (probably the 'recent' field boundaries mentioned above), visible on these and additional aerial photographs (S2-3), centred around TG 3065 3515. The general morphology of the enclosure and comparison with examples mapped from aerial photographs in Lincolnshire (S4) suggests that an Iron Age or Romano-British date is plausible for the site. Despite a general absence of dating evidence, many of the cropmark sites identified on the gravel geology on each side of Mundesley Beck have been tentatively dated to this period. Together they form a wide swathe of field systems and small settlement sites like the enclosure recorded here.

The layout of the enclosure implies at least two phases as suggested above. These are not, however, easy to separate, suggesting gradual changes over time. At its largest the enclosure measured approximately 125m by 70m but this was almost certainly divided up into compartments. A trackway aligned approximately east-to-west seems to be a related feature; the fact that it appears to slight, or be slighted by, the south-east corner of the enclosure again indicates more than one phase of construction. Other ditches around the enclosure may define further trackways, fields or paddocks. Two pits have also been mapped but should be treated with caution as the background geology of the site is conducive to the formation of pit-like cropmarks.
(S1-4)
S. Tremlett (NMP), 8 December 2004.

Monument Types

  • BOUNDARY DITCH (Unknown date)
  • FARMSTEAD (Undated)
  • FIELD BOUNDARY (Undated)
  • PIT (Undated)
  • RECTANGULAR ENCLOSURE (Undated)
  • RECTILINEAR ENCLOSURE (Undated)
  • SETTLEMENT (Undated)
  • TRACKWAY (Undated)
  • BOUNDARY DITCH (Early Iron Age to Roman - 800 BC to 409 AD)
  • FARMSTEAD (Early Iron Age to Roman - 800 BC to 409 AD)
  • FIELD BOUNDARY (Early Iron Age to Roman - 800 BC to 409 AD)
  • PIT (Early Iron Age to Roman - 800 BC to 409 AD)
  • RECTANGULAR ENCLOSURE (Early Iron Age to Roman - 800 BC to 409 AD)
  • RECTILINEAR ENCLOSURE (Early Iron Age to Roman - 800 BC to 409 AD)
  • SETTLEMENT (Early Iron Age to Roman - 800 BC to 409 AD)
  • TRACKWAY (Early Iron Age to Roman - 800 BC to 409 AD)

Associated Finds - none

Protected Status

  • SHINE

Sources and further reading

---Record Card: NAU Staff. 1974-1988. Norfolk Archaeological Index Primary Record Card.
<S1>Oblique Aerial Photograph: Edwards, D.A. (NLA). 1977. NHER TG 3035A-B (NLA 52/AKJ16-7) 30-JUL-1977.
<S2>Vertical Aerial Photograph: BKS. 1988. BKS 2219-20 03-SEP-1988 (NCC 4418-9).
<S3>Vertical Aerial Photograph: Meridian Airmaps Limited. 1976. MAL 76053 025-7 29-JUN-1976 (NMR).
<S4>Monograph: Winton, H.. 1998. The cropmark evidence for prehistoric and Roman settlement in West Lincolnshire.. Lincolnshire's Archaeology from the Air. Bewley, R.H. (ed.). pp 47-68.

Related records - none

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