Record Details

NHER Number:1020
Type of record:Monument
Name:Possible Late Neolithic or Bronze Age hengiform monument

Summary

The cropmarks of large concentric ring ditch or hengiform monument, of possible Late Neolithic to Bronze Age date, are visible on aerial photographs. This monument appears to be at the eastern head of a linear group of ring ditches (NHER 12787 to 12789). This is the largest of the group and it is situated on a small knoll. The fact that this monument is larger and has the inner hengiform ditch, could suggest that this is the earliest monument and may be a Late Neolithic or Early Bronze Age barrow or a hengiform monument. This may have acted as a focus for slightly later Bronze Age barrows. These barrows appear to be sitting alongside the previous course of the River Burn.

Images - none

Location

Grid Reference:TF 8420 4227
Map Sheet:TF84SW
Parish:BURNHAM THORPE, WEST NORFOLK, NORFOLK

Full description

FINDS PREVIOUSLY RECORDED UNDER THIS NUMBER ARE NOW RECORDED UNDER NHER 28127.

Cropmark/soilmark site of circular enclosure or of a barrow ditch, some 25m in diameter. North of old railway line and to the east of the town of Burnham Market on the border of the parishes of Burnham Market and Burnham Thorpe, just west of the new sewage works. Situated on the top of a small eminence. Sewer and water mains cut edge of feature on two sides. Another ring ditch to the east .
D. Edwards (NAU).

No sign in ploughed field on small knoll.
A. Lawson (NAU), 24 March 1976..

12 July 1994. NLA air photography.
Cropmark visible.
H. Clare (NLA), 22 February 2001.

19 July 1996. NLA air photography.
Large ring ditch still visible as crop mark.
S. Massey (NLA), 30 April 2001.

29 July 1996. NLA air photography.
Cropmarks visible.
H. Clare (NLA), 2 May 2001.

October 2002. Norfolk NMP.
The cropmarks of large concentric ring ditch or hengiform monument, of possible Late Neolithic to Bronze Age date, are visible on a series of NLA aerial photography dating from 1986-1996 (S1, S2 and S3). This monument appears to be at the eastern head of a linear group of ring ditches (NHER 12787 to NHER 12789). This is the largest of the group and it is situated on a small knoll. The fact that this monument is larger and has the inner hengiform ditch, could suggest that this is the earliest monument and may be a late Neolithic or Early Bronze Age barrow or a hengiform monument. This may have acted as a focus for slightly later Bronze Age barrows. These barrows appear to be sitting alongside the previous course of the River Burn.

The monument consist of two concentric ring ditches, centred on TF 8420 4227 (NGR amended from original of TF842 423). The outer ditch measures 36m in diameter and the ditch is up to 2m across. On the 1986 obliques (S1) an inner ring ditch is visible. This is 24m in diameter and appears less than 1m wide. This ditch has a 10m wide causeway to the northwest. This appears to have bulbous ends on the aerial photographs, although the cropmarks are quite faint.
(S1, S2 and S3)
S. Massey (NMP), 2 October 2002.

Monument Types

  • HENGIFORM MONUMENT (Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age - 3000 BC to 1501 BC)
  • RING DITCH (Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age - 3000 BC to 1501 BC)
  • ROUND BARROW (Late Neolithic to Late Bronze Age - 3000 BC to 701 BC)
  • CIRCULAR ENCLOSURE (Bronze Age - 2350 BC to 701 BC)
  • RING DITCH (Bronze Age - 2350 BC to 701 BC)

Associated Finds - none

Protected Status

  • SHINE

Sources and further reading

---Aerial Photograph: TF8442 A,B,F-K,S-V,Y,Z,AJ-AL.
---Aerial Photograph: Edwards, D.A. (NLA). 1996. TF8442/AV - AX.
---Aerial Photograph: Edwards, D.A. (NLA). 1996. TF8442/AZ - ABC.
---Aerial Photograph: Edwards, D.A. (NLA). 1994. TF 8342AP, AQ, AU; TF 8442AM - AU.
---Record Card: Ordnance Survey Staff. 1933-1979?. Ordnance Survey Record Cards. TF 84 SW 14.
---Record Card: NAU Staff. 1974-1988. Norfolk Archaeological Index Primary Record Card.
---Article in Serial: Massey, S., Brennand, M. and Clare, H. 2003. The National Mapping Programme in Norfolk, 2001-3. Norfolk Archaeology. Vol XLIV Pt II pp 335-344. pp 338-339; Fig 2.
---Record Card: Clarke, R. R. and NCM Staff. 1933-1973. Norwich Castle Museum Record Card - Miscellaneous. Burnham Thorpe.
<S1>Aerial Photograph: Edwards, D.A. (NLA). 1986. SMR TF 8442AE-F (NLA 178/DBJ12-3) 15-JUL-1986.
<S2>Aerial Photograph: Edwards, D.A. (NLA). 1996. SMR TF 8442ABA (NLA 374/JAV9) 19-JUL-1996.
<S3>Aerial Photograph: Edwards, D.A. (NLA). 1996. SMR TF 8442AV-X (NLA 377/JAK1-3) 29-JUL-1996.

Related records - none

Find out more...

Norfolk County Council logo Heritage Lottery Fund logo

Powered by HBSMR-web and the HBSMR Gateway from exeGesIS SDM Ltd, and mojoPortal CMS
© 2007 - 2024 Norfolk Historic Environment Service