Record Details
| NHER Number: | 22943 |
|---|
| Type of record: | Monument |
|---|
| Name: | Possible site of Honing Broad/Crostwight water |
|---|
Summary
A series of former lakes are depicted on and around East Ruston and Honing Commons on an 18th century map. These were probably flooded medieval peat cuttings that have since silted up almost entirely. The area of East Ruston Common was in fact a Poor Allotment. The remains of former peat cutting doles, created by surface extraction in the medieval or post medieval period, were identified on the ground and surveyed following their exposure by fire in the early 1990s. Similar doles are visible across a much wider area as earthworks and vegetation patterns on aerial photographs.
Images - none
Location
| Grid Reference: | TG 3428 2824 |
|---|
| Map Sheet: | TG32NW |
|---|
| Parish: | EAST RUSTON, NORTH NORFOLK, NORFOLK |
|---|
| HONING, NORTH NORFOLK, NORFOLK |
|---|
Full description
1986.
The estate map of Crostwight in Honing Hall Estate Office shows the lands of manor belonging to Robert Walpole (and therefore dating to between 1720 and early 19th cent) and shows Alder Carr at Crostwight as a lake, Crostwight Water, with arms (a decoy?) and East Ruston and Honing Commons as occupied by a much larger lake, Honing Broad, with a wide channel extending down Mown Fen to where the canal arm now is.
(S1) shows only a small remnant of Honing Broad in the centre of the area.
Not included by (S2).
E. Rose (NAU), 1 October 1986.
Boundary of area as marked on NHER is partly arbitrary because of difficulty in reconciling maps.
(S3) gives diagram of earthworks of pattern of peat cuttings marked by baulks at TG 343 283 within this area. This presumably indicates these lakes are indeed turbaries.
E. Rose (NLA), 25 April 2000.
East Ruston 'Common', in spite of its name is not technically a common at all, but a large poors' allotment. It calls for comment for two reasons. Firstly, because its management was described in some detail in (S4). Secondly, a severe fire in the early 1990s ignited the more recent, less combustible peat that had filled old workings; these were, as a result, clearly exposed and remain visible. They consist of a series of parallel doles, about 10m wide separated by baulks of uncut peat (centred at about TG 3437 2830).
D. Gurney (NLA), 27 May 2003.
January 2007. Norfolk NMP.
Former doles, presumably from peat cutting, are visible across a large proportion of the former Broads described above, as earthworks and vegetation marks on aerial photographs (S5)-(S10). These would have been shallow workings used to extract surface peat deposits in the medieval or post medieval period, rather than the deep cuttings that became the Broads. Their extent has been mapped by the NMP, although this is not entirely certain as some of the features could relate to drainage rather than peat cutting. What proportion of the doles still survive as earthworks is unclear.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 5 January 2007.
Monument Types
- PEAT CUTTING (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
- PEAT EXTRACTION SITE (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
- ALLOTMENT (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
- DECOY POND? (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
- PEAT CUTTING (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
- PEAT EXTRACTION SITE (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
Associated Finds - none
Protected Status - none
Sources and further reading
| --- | Unpublished Document: Williamson, T.. 2002. Report for Broads Authority. |
| --- | Monograph: Williamson, T.. 1997. The Norfolk Broads: A Landscape History.. pp 81-82. |
| --- | Unpublished Document: Thorogood, P.. 2000. Duck Decoys of Norfolk (UEA BA Dissertation ref HISH 3P2Y). |
| --- | Record Card: NAU Staff. 1974-1988. Norfolk Archaeological Index Primary Record Card. |
| <S1> | Publication: Faden, W. and Barringer, J. C. 1989. Faden's Map of Norfolk in 1797. |
| <S2> | Monograph: Lambert, J.M. & Jennings, J.N.. 1960. The Making of the Broads: A Reconsideration of their Origin in the Light of New Evidence.. |
| <S3> | Publication: Williamson, T.. 1997. The Norfolk Broads. p 82. |
| <S4> | Article in Serial: Bird, M. C. H. 1909. The Rural Economy, Sport and Natural History of East Ruston Common. Transactions of the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists' Society. Vol VIII Pt 5 pp 631-666. |
| <S5> | Vertical Aerial Photograph: RAF. 1946. RAF 106G/UK/1634 3086-7 09-JUL-1946 (NHER TG 3328B, TG 3428A). |
| <S6> | Vertical Aerial Photograph: RAF. 1955. RAF 540/1723 (F21) 0030-2 04-OCT-1955 (NMR). |
| <S7> | Vertical Aerial Photograph: Ordnance Survey. 1972. OS/72111 097-8 02-MAY-1972. |
| <S8> | Vertical Aerial Photograph: Ordnance Survey. 1972. OS/72111 117-9 02-MAY-1972. |
| <S9> | Vertical Aerial Photograph: CUCAP. 1980. CUCAP RC8DJ 191-2 24-JAN-1980 (CUCAP). |
| <S10> | Vertical Aerial Photograph: ADAS. 1995. ADAS 630 3-5 22-MAY-1995 (BA). |
Related records - none
Find out more...