Record Details

NHER Number:63055
Type of record:Monument
Name:Undated banks and ditches which may relate to the former medieval settlement at Didlington.

Summary

Undated earthwork bank and ditches which possibly relate to former medieval settlement remains are visible on aerial photographs. The earthworks have since been levelled and are now visible as cropmarks. These features may relate to land division, possible field systems, drainage and boundaries. It is also possible that the features may relate tree planting and parkland features associated with the Didlington park landscape (NHER 40234).

Images - none

Location

Grid Reference:TL 7770 9711
Map Sheet:TL79NE
Parish:DIDLINGTON, BRECKLAND, NORFOLK

Full description

The features described below were previously recorded as part of NHER 11758. See NHER 11758 for further details.

November 2018. Breckland National Mapping Programme.
Undated earthwork bank and ditches, which may relate to possible former medieval settlement remains (NHER 11758), are visible on aerial photographs (S1-S5). The earthworks have since been levelled and are now visible as cropmarks. The earthworks visible on the 1940s aerial photographs showed differently between the runs of air photos and were inconsistent with the later cropmark evidence from the 1970s (S5). The decision was made where earthwork and cropmark data was inconsistent, the cropmarks were mapped as they were clearer and provided the most useful information in this case. The large approximate east – west banks and ditches may have related to former fields, land division, boundaries or drainage associated with the possible deserted medieval village of Didlington (NHER 11758). Equally, these features may have been associated with tree planting in the parkland around Didlington Hall (NHER 40234 and NHER 4821). The evidence for tree planting could be suggested from the alignment of the east – west bank and ditches with the lines of trees on the First and Second Edition Ordnance Survey maps (S6-S7) and 1940s air photos (S1-S2). At TL 7777 9729 there is a mound with a depression in the centre and an area of small banks which may relate to the possible medieval settlement remains or the parkland landscape. This area has seen a large amount of landscape change and further work is required to understand the relationship between the features, the possible medieval settlement remains and the Didlington Park landscape.
J.Powell (Norfolk Historic Environment Service), 9 November 2018.

Monument Types

  • BANK (EARTHWORK) (Unknown date)
  • DITCH (Unknown date)
  • HOLLOW (Unknown date)
  • MOUND (Unknown date)
  • BANK (EARTHWORK) (Medieval to 19th Century - 1066 AD? to 1900 AD?)
  • BOUNDARY BANK? (Medieval to 19th Century - 1066 AD to 1900 AD)
  • BOUNDARY? (Medieval to 19th Century - 1066 AD to 1900 AD)
  • DESERTED SETTLEMENT? (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)
  • HOLLOW (Medieval to 19th Century - 1066 AD? to 1900 AD?)
  • MOUND (Medieval to 19th Century - 1066 AD? to 1900 AD?)
  • SETTLEMENT? (Medieval to 19th Century - 1066 AD to 1900 AD)
  • TREE BELT? (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)

Associated Finds - none

Protected Status - none

Sources and further reading

<S1>Vertical Aerial Photograph: Various. Vertical Aerial Photograph. RAF/3G/TUD/UK/101 RV 6063-6064 30-MAR-1946 (HEA Original Print).
<S2>Vertical Aerial Photograph: Various. Vertical Aerial Photograph. RAF/106G/UK/1634 FP 1337-1338 09-JUL-1946 (HEA Original Print).
<S3>Vertical Aerial Photograph: Various. Vertical Aerial Photograph. RAF/82/1204 F22 176-177 02-JUN-1955 (HEA Original Print).
<S4>Oblique Aerial Photograph: Various. Oblique Aerial Photograph. Norfolk Historic Environment Record TL7797A 12-JUL-1974 (NLA 13/ADG7) (Print).
<S5>Vertical Aerial Photograph: Various. Vertical Aerial Photograph. RAF/58/0475 V 023-024 05-MAY-1970 (HEA Original Print).
<S6>Map: Ordnance Survey. 1885-1891. Ordnance Survey Map. Six inches to the mile. First Edition. 1:10,560.
<S7>Map: Ordnance Survey. 1902-7. Ordnance Survey second edition 25 inch (1902-7) map. 25 inches to 1 mile.

Related records

62602Parent of: Undated ditches (Monument)
40234Part of: Didlington Park (Monument)
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