Record Details
| NHER Number: | 61514 |
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| Type of record: | Monument |
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| Name: | Earthworks of mound of uncertain date and significance |
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Summary
The earthworks of circular mound of uncertain date and significance are visible on the 0.5m resolution Lidar data. The mound is located alongside the Brandon to Methwold/Stoke Ferry road and the Saxon territorial boundary, the Fossditch (NHER 1089) and a series of trackways and boundaries (NHER 31516) of probable post-medieval date. The presence of dumps of soil – assumed to be the mound recorded here and NHER 61513 to the west – at the junction of the Fossditch and the Methwold/Stoke Ferry road was noted in 1955 by Rainbird Clarke and it has been suggested that they were created when the road cut through the rampart of the Fossditch. Given the location of the intersection of these two routes, the interpretation of spoil heaps is convincing. However the mounds are also located within the centre of a cluster of larger barrow mounds (NHER 4491, NHER 33605, and NHER 56274) which appear to form a barrow cemetery (NHER 61515). The possibility that these mounds are the remains of round barrows and not merely spoil heaps potentially requires further investigation on the ground.
Images - none
Location
| Grid Reference: | TL 7601 9037 |
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| Map Sheet: | TL79SE |
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| Parish: | WEETING WITH BROOMHILL, BRECKLAND, NORFOLK |
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Full description
September 2016. 'Brecks from Above' and Breckland National Mapping Programme.
The earthworks of circular mound of uncertain date and significance are visible on on the 0.5m resolution Lidar data (S1).
The mound, which is approximately 15m across, is located alongside the Brandon to Methwold road and the Saxon territorial boundary, the Fossditch (NHER 1089), and a series of trackways and boundaries (NHER 31516) of probable post-medieval date. The presence of dumps of soil – assumed to be the mound recorded here and NHER 61513 to the west – at the junction of the Fossditch and the Methwold/Stoke Ferry road was noted in 1955 by Rainbird Clarke (S2) and it has been suggested that they were created when the road cut through the rampart of the Fossditch – as has also been suggested for larger nearby mound and/or barrow (NHER 4491).
A linear feature of relatively modern date to the immediate east of the mound unfortunately makes it hard to accurately decipher the relationship between the mound and boundaries to the east.
Given the location of the intersection of these two routes, the interpretation of spoil heaps is convincing. However, the mounds are extremely round and regular for spoil heaps and have no obvious signs of ramps or tip lines or irregular spreading on the lidar that might be expected with such features. The mounds are also located within the centre of a cluster of larger barrow mounds (NHER 4491, NHER 33605, and NHER 56274), which appear to form a barrow cemetery (NHER 61515). The possibility that these mounds are the remains of round barrows and not merely spoil heaps potentially requires further investigation on the ground.
S. Horlock (Norfolk Historic Environment Service), 29 September 2016.
Monument Types
- MOUND (Unknown date)
- MOUND (Bronze Age - 2350 BC to 701 BC?)
- ROUND BARROW? (Bronze Age - 2350 BC to 701 BC)
- SPOIL HEAP? (Medieval to 19th Century - 1066 AD to 1900 AD?)
Associated Finds - none
Protected Status - none
Sources and further reading
| <S1> | LIDAR Airborne Survey: Various. LIDAR Airborne Survey. LIDAR Weeting Forest Research 0.5m DTM 17-JUL-2015 (BNG Project, FC England, Fugro Geospatial). |
| <S2> | Article in Serial: Clarke, R. R. 1955. 'The Fossditch - a linear earthwork in south-west Norfolk' in Norfolk Archaeology vol 31. Norfolk Archaeology. 178-196. |
Related records
| 61515 | Part of: The site of a Bronze Age round barrow cemetery (Monument) |