Record Details

NHER Number:36488
Type of record:Monument
Name:Cropmarks of medieval to post medieval structure, trackways and enclosures

Summary

Double-ditched enclosures and boundaries, trackways and a structure, all probably of medieval to post medieval date, are visible as cropmarks on aerial photographs. They are situated in the vicinity of Manor House (NHER 13436) which is of 18th-century and later date, but its name (Southrepps Hall on Faden's map of 1797) and the presence of a medieval stone figurehead built into a later barn hint at earlier activity at the site. The morphology of the cropmarks also suggests a medieval to post-medieval date; they are comparable to the enclosures mapped close to moated sites at Roughton (NHER 38557) and Metton (NHER 38618). A number of the ditches on the north side of the site, as well as an unmapped negative cropmark, can be identified as a trackway depicted on the Southrepps Tithe Map.

Images - none

Location

Grid Reference:TG 2557 3570
Map Sheet:TG23NE
Parish:SOUTHREPPS, NORTH NORFOLK, NORFOLK

Full description

28 June 1996. NLA air photography.
Cropmark site consisting of a series of linears, trackways and enclosures.
The clarity of the marks is not good, although certain individual elements can be identified.
A double parallel linear runs between Manor Farm and Wayside Cottage. This appears to form the edge for several rectilinear enclosed areas, these also have double ditched boundaries.
To the SE of this, at approx. NGR TG 2565 3562 is a rectangular parchmark, presumably a building.
Other elements are visible within the fields, although they cannot clearly be discerned.
The double ditched enclosures and the rectangular building are likely to be medieval features, possibly relating to NHER 13436, Manor Farm and the site of Southrepps Hall.
S. Massey (NLA), 8 October 2001.

November 2004. Norfolk NMP.
The cropmarks described above are visible on aerial photographs (S1-4), centred around TG 2565 3570. A multiple-ditched boundary or trackway, described above, is visible from TG 2570 3572 to TG 2561 3561. On its western side a small double-ditched rectilinear enclosure is visible, measuring 28m wide and at least 46m long. This lies within a second rectilinear enclosure, again double-ditched for at least part of its circuit, which measures 57m wide and 90m long. To the east of the track, a small, rectangular, cropmark is visible. There is a slight possibility that this is a 'reversed' positive cropmark, but it has been mapped as a positive feature. It measures approximately 10m long and 6.5m wide and probably represents a demolished building.

To the north-west, a trackway is depicted on Southrepps Tithe Map (S5) between TG 2561 3576 and TG 2544 3584 (i.e. cutting the corner between the road leading to Manor House and the road that bounds the site to the west). A rather ill-defined negative cropmark is visible in this area but has not been mapped as this same line is still used for modern agricultural activity and the two phases of use are indistinguishable. Ditches mapped in the vicinity, however, may have once defined (and drained) this track. A number of other ditches in this area seem to overlie the negative cropmark suggesting that they may be the product of relatively recent agricultural activity. Other single, double and triple ditches across the site may define further enclosures and trackways or perhaps acted as field boundaries. The way in which some of the features cross the line of other ditches suggests more than one phase of activity at the site. Two ditches which cross the site north-to-south and east-to-west seem to overlie everything else; they have the appearance of being modern field drains and consequently have not been mapped.
(S1-5)
S. Tremlett (NMP), 30 November 2004.

Could the two modern ditches mentioned above be Second World War anti-aircraft ditches or aircraft obstruction? Was the barn adjacent (Manor Farm) one of the "Red Barns" supposedly built for an invasion?
D. Gurney (HES), 27 January 2015.

Monument Types

  • BUILDING (Unknown date)
  • DOUBLE DITCHED ENCLOSURE (Unknown date)
  • FIELD BOUNDARY (Unknown date)
  • RECTILINEAR ENCLOSURE (Unknown date)
  • STRUCTURE (Unknown date)
  • TRACKWAY (Unknown date)
  • BUILDING (Medieval to 19th Century - 1066 AD to 1900 AD)
  • DOUBLE DITCHED ENCLOSURE (Medieval to 19th Century - 1066 AD to 1900 AD)
  • FIELD BOUNDARY (Medieval to 19th Century - 1066 AD to 1900 AD)
  • RECTILINEAR ENCLOSURE (Medieval to 19th Century - 1066 AD to 1900 AD)
  • STRUCTURE (Medieval to 19th Century - 1066 AD to 1900 AD)
  • TRACKWAY (Medieval to 19th Century - 1066 AD to 1900 AD)
  • AIRCRAFT OBSTRUCTION (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
  • ANTI LANDING TRENCH (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)

Associated Finds - none

Protected Status

  • SHINE

Sources and further reading

---Aerial Photograph: Edwards, D.A. (NLA). 1996. TG 2535C - H.
<S1>Vertical Aerial Photograph: Ordnance Survey. 1968. OS/68083 045-6 25-APR-1968 (NMR).
<S2>Vertical Aerial Photograph: Ordnance Survey. 1988. OS/88129 081-3 27-MAY-1988 (NMR).
<S3>Vertical Aerial Photograph: BKS. 1988. BKS 2372-3 03-SEP-1988 (NCC 4566-7).
<S4>Oblique Aerial Photograph: Edwards, D.A. (NLA). 1996. NHER TG 2535F-H (NLA 365/JFJ11-3) 28-JUN-1996.
<S5>Map: James Wright. 1839. Southrepps Tithe Map (NRO DN/TA 190).

Related records - none

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