Record Details
| NHER Number: | 36761 |
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| Type of record: | Monument |
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| Name: | Site of possible Bronze Age round barrow |
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Summary
A ring ditch, possibly representing the remnants of a Bronze Age round barrow, is visible as a cropmark on aerial photographs. The site appears to be overlain by a field boundary of probable post medieval date, part of NHER 49459. Although its origin as part of a prehistoric funerary monument is plausible for the ring ditch, given its location in the former grounds of Smallburgh Hall a more recent origin as part of a landscape garden cannot be ruled out.
Images - none
Location
| Grid Reference: | TG 3282 2299 |
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| Map Sheet: | TG32SW |
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| Parish: | SMALLBURGH, NORTH NORFOLK, NORFOLK |
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Full description
2 August 1995. NLA air photography.
Cropmark of a ring ditch visible, it may be of Bronze Age origin.
A linear runs through the feature, this is likely to be a later field boundary, although it may be a trench cut through, relating to antiquarian activity.
S. Massey (NLA), 1 August 2001.
June 2007. Norfolk NMP.
NMP mapping has led to the alteration of the central grid reference of the site from TG 3282 2299 to TG 3283 2299.
The ring ditch described above is visible as a cropmark on aerial photographs (S1)-(S2). The linear ditch which appears to overlie it is almost certainly a later field boundary (now recorded as part of NHER 49459), which may be depicted on Smallburgh Enclosure Map. The ring ditch might plausibly be interpreted as the remains of a Bronze Age round barrow, but it lies within the former grounds of Smallburgh Hall, adjacent to a stand of trees marked as Round Plantation on the Ordnance Survey 1st edition 6 inch map (S3). This indicates that a more recent origin as a landscape garden feature cannot be ruled out.
The ring ditch is roughly circular in plan and measures up to 16m in diameter. A break on the southern side of the ditch circuit is as likely to be the product of the cropmark being masked, as it is the presence of a genuine causeway. It should be noted that the rectification of the oblique aerial photographs of the site was poor and this may have had an adverse effect on the accuracy of the mapping.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 5 June 2007.
Monument Types
- RING DITCH (Unknown date)
- RING DITCH (Bronze Age - 2350 BC to 701 BC)
- ROUND BARROW (Bronze Age - 2350 BC to 701 BC)
- GARDEN FEATURE? (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
- PLANTATION? (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
Associated Finds - none
Protected Status
Sources and further reading
| <S1> | Oblique Aerial Photograph: Edwards, D.A. (NLA). 1995. NHER TG 3223H-K (NLA 355/JDY9-11) 02-AUG-1995. |
| <S2> | Vertical Aerial Photograph: BKS. 1988. BKS 2074-5 29-AUG-1988 (NCC 4291-2). |
| <S3> | Map: Ordnance Survey. 1889 - 1891. Ordnance Survey first edition 6 inch map.. 1:10,560. |
Related records - none
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