Norfolk Heritage Explorer

Location

Full description

15 September 1981. NAU air photography.
Positive cropmarks.
Sub-rectangular enclosure with entrance? To east.
Set within field system.
D. Edwards (NAU), 5 May 1982.

1995. Air photography.
Further photography by [1] shows what may be an earlier alignment of the perimeter, a possible clavicula at the entrance and possibly some circular internal features, though these are more dubious.
E. Rose (NLA), 30 August 1995.

This could well be a native fort.
D. Gurney (NLA), 1 September 1995.

October 2006. Norfolk NMP
A cropmark of a rectilinear enclosure of probable Iron Age to early Roman date is visible on aerial photographs (S1-S2). The central grid reference for this enclosure has been amended from TG 3490 1040 to TG 3500 1047. The enclosure has an asymmetrical sub-rectangular in plan with rounded corners. It is defined by a 2.5m wide ditch and has external dimensions of 84m by 76m. An entrance is present on the southwest side of the enclosure and is defined by slightly inward-turned ditches. Previous identification of a possible clavicula at this entrance does not seem to be supported by a re-examination of the aerial photographs. The line of the ditch forming the northern half of the enclosure appears to continue southwards as a very faint ditch cropmark, which cuts across its southern part (S2). It is not clear how this ditch relates to the enclosure and it is possible that it is a later feature that is coincidentally on the same alignment. A possible entrance is also present on the northeast side of the enclosure. It is positioned almost opposite the southwest entrance but appears to have been blocked by a ditch that shows only as a faint cropmark on (S2). Possible pit cropmarks are present inside and outside of the enclosure close to this possible entrance. A linear ditch extends for 28m to the northeast from close to the northeast corner of the enclosure. Its function is unclear, but it may have defined part of a further enclosure. The form of this enclosure suggests that it is likely to be of Iron Age to early Roman date. It is possible that it had a settlement function. The faint cropmarks of possible circular features within the enclosure that are mentioned above were not convincing and were not mapped. The earlier discussion of this site also suggests that it is located within a field system. It appears that marks associated with agricultural machinery, which are present in the field to the east of the enclosure on (S1), have been misinterpreted as cropmarks of field boundaries. There are no cropmarks of field boundaries connected with this enclosure visible on the available aerial photographs. A small and incomplete rectilinear enclosure cropmark is present immediately to the north of this enclosure (NHER 45149). It is possible that these two enclosures are related. It is also likely that they are related to the Iron Age to Roman trackway and fragmentary field boundary cropmarks recorded further to the west (NHER 45150).
J. Albone (NMP), 12 October 2006

Monument Types

• DITCH (Unknown date)
• PIT (Unknown date)
• RECTILINEAR ENCLOSURE (Unknown date)
• FORT? (Iron Age - 800 BC to 42 AD)
• PIT (Early Iron Age to Roman - 800 BC to 409 AD)
• RECTILINEAR ENCLOSURE (Iron Age - 800 BC to 42 AD)

Associated Finds - none

Protected Status

• SHINE

Sources and further reading

Related records - none

Find out more...

• Parish Summary: Blofield (Parish Summary)