Norfolk Heritage Explorer

Location

Full description

Earthwork moat and cropmarks previously recorded under NHER 6760.

1994. Watching Brief.
Observation and salvage excavation in advance of pipeline by T. Ashwin (NAU) within the area of the cropmark enclosure on south of road and which passes close to a moated site. Pits containing Late Saxon and medieval sherds; a series of north-south ditches, possibly for strip fields; animal bone, slag, lava quern from topsoil.
See report (S5) for further details. The results of this work are also summarised in (S6) and (S7).
E. Rose 27 (NLA) June 1995. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 27 February 2014.

2002.
Site masked by undergrowth to east. To west encroachment onto moat by farm drove alteration. Remainder mostly under lawn, where profile is not substantial. NT and tenant had inquired about the possibilty of grant-aid to clear undergrowth. English Heritage considered site of insufficient importance to attract funding under National Monument Mapping Programme.
H. Paterson (A&E) 10 May 2002.

February 2002.
Mud and silt deposits removed from moat. Ancient silts left intact.
See newspaper article (S8) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 27 February 2014.

June 2004, Norfolk NMP.
A medieval to post-medieval moat, centred at TG 2016 3755, has been visited on the ground, surveyed and is also visible as an earthwork on aerial photographs (S1-3). The site lies in a valley at the northeast end of a tributary of Scarrow Beck. The moat appears to survive as a rectilinear enclosure, open to the north and cut by an access track on its south side. It measures approximately 37.5m long and 30m wide. Its western arm leads into a pond which has previously been observed to be unconnected to the moat (NHER 6760 secondary file). It should be noted that the rectification of the aerial photographs used to map the moat was poor.

On 1996 vertical aerial photographs (S2-3) the earthwork remains of what may be at least one fishpond are visible to the southwest of the moat. These lie close to the course of the now canalised tributary (at TG 2002 3746), at a junction between this and a natural gully leading towards it from the south-east. Just to the west, and in the aforementioned gully, a circular mound or flattened area surrounded by a ditch which leads up the gully is visible as an earthwork on the same aerial photographs. This is presumed to be contemporary with the moat and fishponds, but its function is known. It could have supported a dovecote or is perhaps a small post-mill mound, although the location seems unlikely for the latter interpretation at least. Alternatively, it could have performed a water management function associated with the fishponds or other activity. On the same photographs a second possible fishpond is faintly visible, probably as an earthwork, at TG 2006 3751. The westernmost fishpond is rectangular and measures approximately 21m long and up to 17m wide; that to the north-east is rather irregularly shaped and measures 10.5m by 6.5m. The 'mound' of the postulated dovecote or water management feature measures approximately 6m in diameter; its surrounding ditch encompasses an area up to 12m wide.

To the south of the moat, a series of enclosures and other features are visible as cropmarks on aerial photographs (S4), centred at TG 2017 3747. These follow the same general alignment as the moat and are presumed to be more or less contemporary. At least two rectilinear enclosures are apparent. These are either double ditched and open-ended or only partially double ditched. The larger enclosure is visible for a length of 37.5m and is up to 26m wide; the smaller enclosure to its northeast measures 22.5m long and at least 13m wide. Morphologically they bear some similarity to the ancillary enclosures surrounding a moat at Roughton (NHER 6747) 2km to the southeast. Other linear ditches are visible in the surrounding area; these presumably defined other enclosures and trackways which are no longer visible in their entirety. A sequence of use and disuse is indicated by a probable trackway which crosses the larger enclosure. A number of pits and post-holes have also been mapped, but these should be treated with caution since the background geology is conducive to the formation of pit-like cropmarks. Part of a curvilinear enclosure (NHER 38660) which lies on the southern edge of the site may be contemporary but does not seem to fit the same general pattern or alignment. Fragmentary ditches to the east (NHER 38661) are more likely to be associated with the site described here.
See (S1-4).
S. Tremlett (NMP) 8 June 2004.

Monument Types

• DITCH (Unknown date)
• DOUBLE DITCHED ENCLOSURE (Unknown date)
• MOUND (Unknown date)
• PIT (Unknown date)
• POST HOLE (Unknown date)
• RECTILINEAR ENCLOSURE (Unknown date)
• TRACKWAY (Unknown date)
• PIT (Late Saxon - 851 AD? to 1065 AD?)
• SETTLEMENT (Late Saxon to 19th Century - 851 AD to 1900 AD)
• SITE (Late Saxon to 19th Century - 851 AD to 1900 AD)
• DITCH (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• DITCH (Medieval to 19th Century - 1066 AD to 1900 AD)
• DOUBLE DITCHED ENCLOSURE (Medieval to 19th Century - 1066 AD to 1900 AD)
• DOVECOTE (Medieval to 19th Century - 1066 AD to 1900 AD)
• FISHPOND (Medieval to 19th Century - 1066 AD to 1900 AD)
• MANOR (Medieval to 19th Century - 1066 AD to 1900 AD)
• MOAT (Medieval to 19th Century - 1066 AD to 1900 AD)
• MOUND (Medieval to 19th Century - 1066 AD to 1900 AD)
• PIT (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• PIT (Medieval to 19th Century - 1066 AD to 1900 AD)
• POST HOLE (Medieval to 19th Century - 1066 AD to 1900 AD)
• RECTILINEAR ENCLOSURE (Medieval to 19th Century - 1066 AD to 1900 AD)
• TRACKWAY (Medieval to 19th Century - 1066 AD to 1900 AD)
• WINDMILL MOUND (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)

Associated Finds

• ARCHITECTURAL FRAGMENT (Unknown date)
• METAL WORKING DEBRIS (Undated)
• QUERN (Undated)
• POT (Late Saxon - 851 AD to 1065 AD)
• ANIMAL REMAINS (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• POT (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)

Protected Status

• SHINE

Sources and further reading

Related records

Find out more...

• Parish Summary: Sustead (Parish Summary)