Record Details
| NHER Number: | 43474 |
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| Type of record: | Monument |
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| Name: | Probably post medieval drains on Gapton Marshes |
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Summary
A group of drains, some of which were in use in the 19th century, is visible as earthworks and vegetation marks on aerial photographs. Some are depicted on Bradwell Tithe Map (1842), while others might perhaps have been associated with the two drainage mills that stood at the eastern end of the site (NHER 34995 and 34996). The curvilinear or sinuous outline of some of the drains suggests that they may have been adapted from natural channels at an earlier date, perhaps in the medieval period.
Images - none
Location
| Grid Reference: | TG 5099 0611 |
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| Map Sheet: | TG50NW |
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| Parish: | BRADWELL, GREAT YARMOUTH, NORFOLK |
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| GREAT YARMOUTH, GREAT YARMOUTH, NORFOLK |
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Full description
April 2006. Norfolk NMP.
A group of drains is visible as earthworks and vegetation marks on aerial photographs (S1)-(S8), centred at TG 5102 0614. Some elements of the site, such as the curvilinear ditch visible between TG 5079 0604 and TG 5088 0604, are depicted on Bradwell Tithe Map (S9), indicating that they were in use in the 19th century. Some, such as the substantial ditch (comprising a main drain flanked by flood banks and ‘soke dykes’, see (S10)) visible between TG 5093 0622 and TG 5117 0613, may have been constructed to serve the two 19th century drainage windmills located towards the east end of the site (NHER 34995 and 34996; see (S11)). Although most of the features just described appear to have been constructed, or at least in use, in the late post medieval period, the sinuous outline of some of the ditches is characteristic of earlier drainage schemes, perhaps dating back to the medieval period. These utilised and modified pre-existing natural channels, as described in (S12), a process that is evident at nearby sites, including NHER 43468 100m to the northwest. The narrow rectilinear drains visible at the centre of the site (between TG 5097 0627 and TG 5105 0609) may be ‘foot drains’ (see (S10)), dug for local drainage. Elsewhere these have not been mapped by the NMP (for example, see NHER 30624) but they have been included here as they appear to join to a wider pattern of drainage (NHER 43475 in the adjacent fields to the north).
The drains are not clearly visible on recent aerial photographs of the site taken in 1989 (S13) but some may still survive as low earthworks.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 4 April 2006.
Monument Types
- BANK (EARTHWORK) (Unknown date)
- DITCH (Unknown date)
- DRAINAGE DITCH (Unknown date)
- BANK (EARTHWORK) (Medieval to 19th Century - 1066 AD? to 1900 AD)
- DITCH (Medieval to 19th Century - 1066 AD? to 1900 AD)
- DRAINAGE DITCH (Medieval to 19th Century - 1066 AD? to 1900 AD)
- BANK (EARTHWORK) (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
- DITCH (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
- DRAINAGE DITCH (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
Associated Finds - none
Protected Status - none
Sources and further reading
| <S1> | Vertical Aerial Photograph: RAF. 1944. RAF HLA/694 4108-9 26-MAR-1944 (NMR). |
| <S2> | Vertical Aerial Photograph: RAF. 1944. RAF 106G/LA/17 3091-2 28-MAY-1944 (NMR). |
| <S3> | Vertical Aerial Photograph: RAF. 1944. RAF 106G/LA/21 4040-1 04-JUL-1944 (NMR). |
| <S4> | Vertical Aerial Photograph: RAF. 1945. RAF 106G/UK/930 3005-6 16-OCT-1945 (NMR). |
| <S5> | Vertical Aerial Photograph: RAF. 1946. RAF 106G/UK/1296 5210-2 26-MAR-1946 (NMR). |
| <S6> | Vertical Aerial Photograph: RAF. 1955. RAF 58/1674 (F21) 0327-8 04-MAR-1955 (NMR). |
| <S7> | Oblique Aerial Photograph: CUCAP. 1976. CUCAP (BYJ13) 29-JUN-1976. |
| <S8> | Vertical Aerial Photograph: Ordnance Survey. 1980. OS/80068 051-2 10-MAY-1980. |
| <S9> | Map: Unattributed. 1842. Bradwell Tithe Map. 6 chains: 1 inch. |
| <S10> | Monograph: Williamson, T.. 1997. The Norfolk Broads: A Landscape History.. p 7. |
| <S11> | Article in Serial: Allard, P.. 1999. Drainage of Southtown Marshes.. Yarmouth Archaeology. pp 22-6. p 24. |
| <S12> | Monograph: Williamson, T.. 1997. The Norfolk Broads: A Landscape History.. pp 64-65. |
| <S13> | Vertical Aerial Photograph: Ordnance Survey. 1989. OS/89047 325-6 18-MAR-1989 (NMR). |
Related records
| 43475 | Related to: Drains, probably post medieval, on Gapton Marshes (Monument) |
| 34995 | Related to: Site of 19th century drainage mill (Monument) |
| 34996 | Related to: Site of 19th century drainage mill (Monument) |
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