Norfolk Heritage Explorer

Location

Full description

November 2009. Norfolk NMP.
The earthworks and cropmarks of a probable Roman road running from the Framingham Earl and Bixley parish boundary to the south of Bixley Hall towards French Church Farm, Caistor St Edmund (S1-S6). A Roman road was recorded as having followed this route (see NHER 9904), based on an late eighteenth century document referring to ‘Blind Lane’ (S7), thought to have been a Roman road. NHER 9904 is the overall parent record for this stretch of this road. It must be stated that there is currently some doubt over the reliability of this source, see NHER 9904 for details. The earthworks and cropmarks do appear to indicate a relatively early routeway and a Roman date seems plausible given the location. An early medieval date is also a possibility, especially given the relationship with the medieval settlement of Bixley (NHER 9660) and see discussion below, however the fact that the western section appears to underlie much of the medieval to post medieval field and road layout and is ignored by some of the parish boundaries could suggest that it is pre-medieval and therefore most likely Roman in date. This section of probable Roman road is located to the northeast of a more substantial section of Roman road (NHER 30288 and 52298) leading from the Roman town at Venta to the west and towards the major Roman road to Ditchingham. Another possible road or boundary, also following a parish boundary, that of Caistor St Edmund and Bixley, appears to cross with this route at TG 2571 0379 and has a diagonal relationship to it. It is feasible that this also represents the remains of another early road or routeway and is recorded under NHER 52313-4.
The site is centred on TG 2594 0391. The route is clearly visible as cropmarks, soilmarks and in some places earthworks, the road itself varying from a broad parched feature to a very narrow parchmark, or in other places just parallel ditches. The eastern sections of this probable road and associated ditches survived as earthworks as late as the 1950s, but have since been ploughed. Only one possible earthwork section remains at TG 2602 0395.
The possible line of the Roman road is visible as an arrangement of two broadly parallel earthwork banks in 1940s and 1950s photographs (S1-S2), running from TG 2626 0412 to TG 2606 0398. The line of a ditch, probably a drainage ditch, runs alongside them and may in fact cut across them, dividing what originally may have been one bank. The northern bank, which is up to 7.5m across, appears to be quite a pronounced earthwork, with well defined edges that do not entirely correspond with the ditch that divides the two banks. The southern bank is also up to 7.5m across. The width of both of these banks is broadly consistent with average width of the metalling for British Roman roads, which is 6.5m (S8).
These sections of bank are flanked to either side by ditches, one of which marks the Framingham Earl and Bixley parish boundary and appears to have a drainage ditch function. Two parallel ditches/drains, 30-35m apart, would be partly consistent with the outer ditches of a Roman road, although there is obviously much variation (S8). However the plan of these earthwork boundaries and/or drains would appear to be consistent with the layout of the medieval earthworks relating to the former medieval settlement at Bixley (NHER 9660) that the road runs through. However, given the relationship to the probable Roman road it is feasible that these ditches, in part, may be Roman in origin and that they have been recut and reused from the Roman period onwards. In the area of TG 2606 0398 ditches associated with the Roman road are clearly cut across by earthworks of probable medieval to post medieval date that form part of the Bixley settlement (NHER 9660).
This eastern section of the road is recorded as earthworks in the 1940s and 1950s, but is later plough-levelled and later shows as cropmarks. Only one possible earthwork section has been identied. A continuation of the line of the southern of the two banks or roads is visible in 1965 (S3) as an earthwork within an area of rough ground within a stand of trees centred on TG 2603 0395. This area of trees still remains and it is possible that the bank survives extant.
The remainder of the route of the possible Roman road is recorded as either cropmarks or soilmarks. The road continues to TG 2597 0390 and then changes to a more westerly direction (S4-S5). As with the previous road section, multiple bank segments are visible. It is possible that this is the result of continued resurfacing and rerouting of the road over years of use. From the change of direction the road surface appears to be broader, up to 16m wide, although this may be a product of the fact that the road was recorded as a soilmark at this location and the increased width may reflect spreading of surface road material by the plough. The road as a substantial feature is only visible as far as the Caistor St Edmund and Bixley parish boundary, where is meets another major linear feature (NHER 52313-4), which could feasibly also relate to road of Roman date.
To the south west of the parish boundary the line of the road is less clear, although a number of fragmentary ditches (S4-S6), broadly following the same alignment could represent sections of the roadside ditches. Running from TG 2563 0372 to TG 2543 0362 an intermittent bank, up to 6m wide, is visible as a cropmark (S5-S6). Parallel ditches approximately 20m to the north, may represent sections of the roadside ditch at this point. No definite traces of the road can be identified past this point.
S. Horlock (NMP), 05 November 2009.

November 2011. Geophysical Survey.
Magnetic gradiometry survey of proposed development site.
This survey revealed a number of positive area anomalies indicative of cut features such as pits, as well as possible linear features. Earth resistance data collected in the north of the survey area identified cut features which correlate well with the location of cropmarks suggested as of Roman or medieval date, although it is unclear whether they relate to the road feature described above or to other cropmarks recorded in the area.
See report (S9) and NHER 61166 for further details.
E. Bales (HES), 9 July 2012. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 26 August 2015.

July 2014. Trial Trenching.
Evaluation of proposed development site.
Although trenches were placed across several of these cropmark features no corresponding sub-surface features were identified. The one potentially associated feature was a similarly aligned possible ditch. This was potentially an intermitted feature, with no evidence that it continued into an adjacent trench. Unfortunately no dating evidence was recovered.
See report (S10) and NHER 61166 for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 3 November 2016.

Monument Types

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

Associated Finds - none

Protected Status

• SHINE

Sources and further reading

Related records