Norfolk Heritage Explorer

Location

Full description

March 2009. Norfolk NMP.
The eastern continuation of the Roman road (NHER 19725) leading from the Roman settlement and temple at Crownthorpe (NHER 8897) towards the Roman town at Caistor (NHER 9786) are visible on aerial photographs (S1). The site is centred on TG 2026 0349. The cropmarks of the more easterly section of this road have been recorded under NHER 52026, the section that approaches the town itself, and NHER 52027 is the overall parent record for both segments. These westerly sections of the road run along the line of the Keswick and Swardeston parish boundary, which presumably has its origins in the line of the Roman road and later boundaries based upon that road (potentially once it had ceased to be used as a road). The two probable sections of road are visible running from TG 2061 0349 to TG 2028 0349, as an intermittent parchmark, and from TG 1990 0350 to TG 2002 0350, as a more continuous lighter mark.

This Roman would potentially have linked up with the section of Roman road to the north of Wymondham (NHER 19725), which is recorded from aerial photographs running from the Roman settlement and temple at Crownthorpe (NHER 8897) towards the Roman town at Caistor (S2). Evidence, either aerial photographic and field survey, section of road is not known past Ketteringham village, although the route is likely to be fossilised in the eastern section of ‘The Street’ and the western part of the track leading east from the Fiveways junction.

The western probable road segment is visible as a broad, up to 6m wide, linear soilmark and cropmark, 122m long (S1). A ditch, 1-1.5m wide runs alongside this road and/or bank to the south. This feature also forms a field boundary still in use on the Ordnance Survey 2nd edition map (25 inch, 1902-7). However the broadness of the feature visible suggests the former presence of the Roman road. It must be noted that a quarry/chalk pit is visible immediately to the south of this boundary and the edges of the quarry are showing in the same way as the possible Roman road surface. This section of the road is located extremely near to the point that some chalk is exposed at or near the surface. It is probable that chalk material has been used within the construction of the agger.

The easterly section of Roman road may be visible as an intermittent linear parchmark, 2-2.5m wide, running from TG 2061 0349 to TG 2028 0349 flanked on either side by ditched or indistinct positive cropmarks, perhaps indicating hollows or scoops (for excavating material for the road platform) alongside the banked, compacted or metalled surface. The narrow width of the parchmark could suggest that the cropmark visible actually relates to a former field boundary than ran along the parish boundary or a very diminished and eroded version of the former road. The bulk of Roman roads have metalling of 3.25m – 8.8m, with very narrow road surfaces relating to gateways and footways, although a street and a branch road have been recorded with widths as narrow of 2-2.5m (S3). Although given this road is meant to have been a fairly major road linking a settlements, such a narrow width may be unusual. The 1847 Swardeston and Keswick Tithe maps (S4-S5) indicate a 9m wide verge or uncultivated strip of land. The southern edge of this boundary lies directly over the northern edge of the parchmark visible on aerial photographs, but this may in part by due to discrepancies between the Tithes and Ordnance Survey maps. It is possible that this strip of land preserved inbetween the fields of the two parishes could represent the remains of the road, that has since been much denuded by the plough, with only part of the structural elements (the metalling) surviving sufficiently to produce cropmarks. The fact that it is this northern strip marked on the map that more accurately matches up with broader section of the road visible on the aerial photographs to the west could also suggest this. A number of fragmentary ditches running broadly parallel to the road have been included within this site (S1).

This Roman road and/or field boundary appears to be cut across by a possible trackway (NHER 52025). Although it is often hard to confidently assess the chronological relationship between the two features from cropmarks, the trackway would seem to be the later of the two features. This would obviously indicate a post-Roman date for the feature, although the fact that it would appear to cut across the parish boundary seems unusual. See NHER 52025 for discussion of the date and origin of the feature, including the suggestion that it may in fact relate to a relatively recent agricultural feature.
S. Horlock (NMP), 27 March 2009

July 2006. Vertical Aerial Photograph.
Cropmarks on Google Earth show remains of roman road and/or field boundary.
See (S7) for further details.
D. Lefeuvre (HES), 14 February 2011.

March 2011. Norfolk NMP.
A further section of the road is visible as a cropmark on aerial photographs (S8-S9) and the site has been extended 800m to the west as a result. The central grid reference is now TG 1980 0350. The road is visible as a cropmark bank, measuring up to approximately 20m in width.
E. Bales (NMP), 29 March 2011

Monument Types

• BANK (EARTHWORK) (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• DITCH (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• ROAD (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• BANK (EARTHWORK) (Medieval to 19th Century - 1066 AD to 1900 AD)
• DITCH (Medieval to 19th Century - 1066 AD to 1900 AD)
• FIELD BOUNDARY? (Medieval to 19th Century - 1066 AD to 1900 AD)
• PARISH BOUNDARY (Medieval to 19th Century - 1066 AD to 1900 AD)

Associated Finds - none

Protected Status - none

Sources and further reading

Related records