Record Details
| NHER Number: | 26661 |
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| Type of record: | Monument |
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| Name: | Earthworks relating to salt production |
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Summary
A group of possible medieval to post medieval earthworks relating to salt production, visible on aerial photographs.
Images - none
Location
| Grid Reference: | TF 8431 4525 |
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| Map Sheet: | TF84NW |
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| Parish: | BURNHAM NORTON, WEST NORFOLK, NORFOLK |
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Full description
May 2002. Norfolk NMP.
Group of possible medieval to post medieval earthworks relating to salt production, visible on 1969 Hunting Survey photographs (S1) and 1974 OS aerial photographs (S2). The site consists of a group of banked and mounded features, both linear and amorphous, running from TF 8401 4528 to TF 8462 4527. These appear to be quite fragmentary and are of various shapes and sizes. At TF 8415 4527 there is a quite irregular, sub-rectangular mound, 76m by 38. This is joined by a linear bank, 92m long, to the west. This may relate to the larger sea banks to the west and north (NHER 26670). Cut into this mound are three oval pit-like features, arranged around a central point. These all have associated channels linking to them. These are all around 10m by 5m. Another mound at TF 8432 4522 has an oval pit cut into its northern edge. These mounds may be related to salt working, as may the pits cut into these features. If these mounds are salterns and associated sites, then they may pre-date the sea bank to the north, which would have cut off their supply of tidal material. An 1822 plan of the Burnham Slat Marshes (S3) refers to these as 'old banks', several phases of bank are depicted. These mounds are to the north/sea-ward side of the lower arrangement of banks.
S. Massey (NMP), 8 May 2002.
May-November 2004. Norfolk Rapid Coastal Zone Archaeological Survey.
Inter-tidal survey (Environmental Zone 8), Context 1029:
An area of low mounds and disturbed ground was present in Burnham saltmarshes between TF 83994, 45323 and TF 84248, 45288. The mounds and disturbance lay within the area of NHER 26661, a possible saltmaking site.
See assessment report (S4) for further details.
The associated archive has been deposited with the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2017.421).
J. Allen (NLA), 18 April 2005. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 21 July 2019.
Monument Types
- BANK (EARTHWORK) (Unknown date)
- MOUND (Unknown date)
- BANK (EARTHWORK) (Medieval to 19th Century - 1066 AD to 1900 AD)
- PIT (Medieval to 19th Century - 1066 AD to 1900 AD)
- SALTERN (Medieval to 19th Century - 1066 AD to 1900 AD)
Associated Finds - none
Protected Status
Sources and further reading
| <S1> | Aerial Photograph: Hunting Surveys Ltd. 1969. HSL UK/69/949 0074 20-NOV-1969 (Norfolk SMR TF 8445A). |
| <S2> | Vertical Aerial Photograph: Ordnance Survey. 1974. OS/74079 0138 27-MAY-1974. |
| <S3> | Map: Blackett, T.O.. 1822. Plan of Burnham Marshes. |
| <S4> | Unpublished Contractor Report: Robertson, D., Crawley, P., Barker, A., and Whitmore, S. 2005. Norfolk Rapid Coastal Zone Archaeological Survey. Assessment Report and Updated Project Design. Norfolk Archaeological Unit. 1045. |
Related records - none
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