Iron Age ditched enclosure 270m north east of Warham Camp
List Entry Summary
This monument is scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 as amended as it appears to the Secretary of State to be of national importance. This entry is a copy, the original is held by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
Name: Iron Age ditched enclosure 270m north east of Warham Camp
List entry Number: 1018016
Location
The monument may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
County: Norfolk
District: North Norfolk
District Type: District Authority
Parish: Warham
National Park: Not applicable to this List entry.
Grade: Not applicable to this List entry.
Date first scheduled: 10-Jun-1998
Date of most recent amendment: Not applicable to this List entry.
Legacy System Information
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
Legacy System: RSM
UID: 30533
Asset Groupings
This list entry does not comprise part of an Asset Grouping. Asset Groupings are not part of the official record but are added later for information.
List entry Description
Summary of Monument
Legacy Record - This information may be included in the List Entry Details.
Reasons for Designation
A distinctive group of square ditched enclosures between 0.25ha and 1ha in area has been recorded in north and west Norfolk. All are situated on relatively high ground and, most, if not all, have a single entrance. Their distribution is similar to that of the Iron Age forts in the county and those which have been investigated have produced evidence for a date in the Late Iron Age (2nd century BC - 1st century AD). Although the limited excavations on sites of this type have not, as yet, provided conclusive evidence for their function, it is thought that they probably had a religious or ceremonial purpose, since excavated examples of a class of similar later Iron Age enclosures in central and western Europe and in Southern England have been found to contain ritual structures or to have been used for burials. The ditched enclosure 270m north east of Warham Camp is of particular interest because of its close association with the nearby Iron Age fort. The buried ditches and features in the subsoil of the interior will retain archaeological information relating to its construction and use to add to the evidence recovered by the limited excavations on the site and to increase understanding of this particular group of monuments.
History
Legacy Record - This information may be included in the List Entry Details.
Details
The monument includes the buried remains of a rectangular ditched enclosure
located on the northern end of a spur of glaciated chalk above the valley of
the River Stiffkey which runs 280m to the west. It lies 270m north east of the
circular Iron Age earthwork enclosure known as Warham Camp, which is the
subject of a separate scheduling.
The enclosure, which has internal dimensions of approximately 70m north-south
by 67m east-west, with an entrance on the east side, is defined by a ditch
which has become completely infilled, although it survives as a buried feature
beneath the ploughsoil and forms a cropmark (these are areas of differential
crop growth over buried archaeological deposits), which has been recorded on
aerial photographs.
A description published in 1810 refers to entrenchments on the site, known as
The Buroughs, showing that it was then at least partly visible.
Limited excavations carried out in 1959 have demonstrated that the ditch is
`V' shaped in section and between 1.7m and 2m deep measured from the present
surface of the ploughsoil. On the west and north sides of the enclosure and
around the north east corner it is approximately 2m wide, and on the south
side and the east side south of the entrance it is approximately 5.8m wide.
According to the evidence recorded in excavation, the wider part of the ditch
is the result of a recutting, never completed, after the original ditch had
become partly infilled. The enclosure is dated to some time between the end
of the 3rd century BC and the mid-1st century AD by fragments of Late Iron Age
and Romano-British pottery recovered during the excavation.
MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.
It includes a 10 metre boundary around the archaeological features,
considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.
Selected Sources
Books and journals
Davies, J, 'Proc Prehist Soc' in Where Eagles Dare: the Iron Age of Norfolk, , Vol. 62, (1996), 77f
Gregory, T, Gurney, G, 'East Anglian Archaeol' in Excavations at Thornham, Warham, Wighton & Caistor, Norfolk, , Vol. 30, (1986)
National Grid Reference: TF 94586 41050
Map
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This copy shows the entry on 21-Apr-2018 at 02:51:06.
End of official listing