Record Details

NHER Number:4991
Type of record:Monument
Name:Possible Bronze Age round barrow in The Oaks Plantation

Summary

An earthwork mound that was first noted in 1933, most likely to represent the remains of a Bronze Age round barrow. This monument, along with NHER 33605 and 56274, form a small barrow cemetery (NHER 61515) – see also NHER 61513 and NHER 61514 for two possible additional mounds of uncertain date and significance – which is itself located in close proximity to numerous other barrows, forming a dispersed cemetery landscape group (NHER 61484) in this area. The barrow is within a plantation close to the Fossditch linear earthwork (see NHER 1089).

Images - none

Location

Grid Reference:TL 7592 9038
Map Sheet:TL79SE
Parish:HOCKWOLD CUM WILTON, WEST NORFOLK, NORFOLK

Full description

Mound.
Just west of Devil's Dyke west of Brandon to Stoke Ferry road about 24.4m (80') OD under bracken 28 September 1933. In north end of The Oaks Plantation. Purpose uncertain.
R.R. Clarke (NCM)

32m diameter and 2m high.
Damaged by firebreak on northeast; covered in trees on edge of plantation.
Possibility of resulting from cutting road through Dyke.
A.J. Lawson (NAU) 26 March 1976.

January 1984.
A barrow in J. Wymer's (NAU) opinion.
Covered by mature pines, some young ones felled.
Faint ditch northwest side, slightly higher than recorded by Lawson. Another mound just to southeast could be barrow but could be from cutting road through linear earthwork.
J. Wymer (NAU).

February 1998. Walkover Survey.
Rapid Earthwork Identification Survey (Compartment 6070).
Mound. Probable round barrow. 25m in diameter, 0.8m high, positioned at the top of a rise.
See report (S2) for further details.
At the time of the survey a duplicate record (NHER 33604) was erroneously created for this feature. It is clear from (S2) that the mound observed was NHER 4991.
P. Watkins (HES), 19 August 2015.

February 2009.
The mound is shown on (S1).
D. Robertson (NLA), 5 February 2009.

September 2016. 'Brecks from Above' and Breckland National Mapping Programme.
The earthworks of this probable barrow are visible on the aerial photographs from 1946 (S3) and on the 0.5m resolution Lidar data (S4). The earthworks are quite indistinct in places and some disturbance of the site is apparent, with possible later activity truncating and obscuring parts of the original monument.
On the lidar the barrow appears oval in shape, 21m by 18m, but this may be partly due to being truncated by a track to the northeast. A possible ditch, up to 2.5m wide, is recorded to the west and south. However the 1946 aerial photographs show two substantial tracks bordering the mound to the north and south and these features may have altered the original state of any earthworks. The fact the ditch is apparent to the west would suggest that the tracks in the 1940s are not likely to have caused all of the encircling hollow. A possible outer bank, 5m across, may tentatively be identified as a low earthwork on the lidar, although this is not certain – and appears to be obscured to the southeast by a later bank or linear spread of material. A further outer ditch is visible in places to the northeast. Google Earth vertical coverage indicates that the site has been felled in-between 1999 and 2003 (S5-S6), and it seems likely that some of these mounds and spreads of material relate to this relatively recent activity. The lidar shows numerous small mounds and minor earthworks all assumed to be modern.
The HEA/NMR record (NMR TL 79 SE 36) suggests that this mound may entirely result from the removal of part of the rampart of the Fossditch for road construction (S7), although see NHER 61513 and NHER 61514 for discussion of other possible spoilheaps nearby. The presence of the surrounding ring ditch and the high number of barrows in this area, would suggest that this is more likely to be a barrow.
This probable barrow, along with NHER 33605 and 56274, form a small barrow cemetery (NHER 61515) – see also NHER 61513 and NHER 61514 for two possible additional mounds of uncertain date and significance – which is itself located in close proximity to numerous other barrows, forming a dispersed cemetery landscape group (NHER 61484) in this area.
The mapped extent of this record was slightly amended [1].
S. Horlock (Norfolk Historic Environment Service), 29 September 2016.

Monument Types

  • BANK (EARTHWORK) (Unknown date)
  • MOUND (Unknown date)
  • ROUND BARROW (Bronze Age - 2350 BC to 701 BC)
  • BANK (EARTHWORK) (Early 20th Century to 21st Century - 1901 AD to 2100 AD?)

Associated Finds - none

Protected Status

  • SHINE
  • Higher Level Stewardship

Sources and further reading

---Article in Serial: Clarke R. R. 1955. The Fossditch - A Linear Earthwork in South-West Norfolk. Norfolk Archaeology. Vol XXXI Pt Ipp 178-196. pp 180-181.
---Record Card: NAU Staff. 1974-1988. Norfolk Archaeological Index Primary Record Card.
---Record Card: Clarke, R. R. and NCM Staff. 1933-1973. Norwich Castle Museum Record Card - Bronze Age. Hockwold-cum-Wilton.
<S1>Map: Ordnance Survey. 1883. Ordnance Survey 6 inch map.
<S2>Unpublished Contractor Report: Pendleton, C. and Sommers, M. 1998. Rapid Earthwork Identification Survey. Suffolk County Council Archaeological Service. 98/25.
<S2>Vertical Aerial Photograph: Various. Vertical Aerial Photograph. RAF/3G/TUD/UK/59 V 5119-5120 05-FEB-1946 (HEA Original Print).
<S4>LIDAR Airborne Survey: Various. LIDAR Airborne Survey. LIDAR Weeting Forest Research 0.5m DTM 17-JUL-2015 (BNG Project, FC England, Fugro Geospatial).
<S5>Vertical Aerial Photograph: Various. Vertical Aerial Photograph. EARTH.GOOGLE.COM 01-JAN-1999 ACCESSED 29-SEP-2016 (Digital).
<S6>Vertical Aerial Photograph: Various. Vertical Aerial Photograph. EARTH.GOOGLE.COM 19-MAR-2003 ACCESSED 29-SEP-2016 (Digital).
<S7>Digital Dataset: Historic England. National Record for the Historic Environment (formerly National Monument Record). NMR TL 79 SE 36.

Related records

61515Part of: The site of a Bronze Age round barrow cemetery (Monument)
56274Related to: Earthwork round barrow (Monument)
33605Related to: Probable Bronze Age round barrow (Monument)

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