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Norwich, Thetford and A11 corridor

Thetford - Norwich A11 corridor NMP project location This ongoing project covers the historic urban centres of Norwich and Thetford, and the connecting A11 ‘corridor’.

The area faces significant pressure from development, in particular following the award of Growth Point status to both Norwich and Thetford. Using aerial photographs as its principal source the project aims to significantly enhance understanding of the archaeological record for the area, and its results will inform future planning decisions regarding its historic environment.

Excavation of prehistoric and Saxon cemeteries and settlement at Harford Farm, Caistor St Edmund (NLA 257/GFQ7). © Norfolk Museums and Archaeology Service.

This complex multi-phase site at Harford Farm, to the south of Norwich, was identified from the air in 1933 and photographed here under excavation on 5 April 1990. The Norwich Southern Bypass now runs across the central section of the site. Aerial photography and excavation, in advance of construction, revealed the remains of a Bronze Age barrow cemetery. An Iron Age settlement developed around the cemetery and Late Iron Age or Early Roman funerary monuments surrounded by small square enclosures were also constructed. The site was reused as a cemetery in the Middle Saxon period. Later trackways and field boundaries indicate the continued use of this landscape, mainly for agricultural purposes. NHER TG 2204ADY (NLA 257/GFQ7) © Norfolk Museums and Archaeology Service. Photograph by D. A. Edwards.

Important sites

The project area encompasses several of Norfolk’s most important archaeological sites, including the Roman town of Venta Icenorum at Caistor St Edmund. The project has already contributed to the Caistor Roman Town Research Project, run from the University of Nottingham.

Other significant sites include Arminghall ‘henge’ and the Iron Age and Roman enclosure complex at Fison Way, Thetford.

From the more recent past, the project has recorded a Second World War heavy anti aircraft battery on the site of Mousehold Aerodrome, to the northeast of Norwich. This is just one of several such defences that protected the city from aerial attack during the Second World War.

The project is also making important new discoveries, with previously unknown sites dating to all periods from the Neolithic to the Second World War which are now coming to light.

NMP extract of Caistor Roman town © Norfolk Museums and Archaeology Service/English Heritage. Ordnance Survey map reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO © Crown Copyright, licence number 100019340.

The NMP mapping around the Roman town of Venta Icenorum, at Caistor St Edmund, just to the south of Norwich, may reveal the full extent of a triple-ditched enclosure that surrounded the walled town. This enclosure was previously interpreted as a Roman fort, established before the town, immediately after the Boudiccan revolt. However the enclosure’s kite-shaped plan (the blue dotted line on the illustration) suggests it relates to early town defences prior to construction of the walls around the 3rd century AD. The NMP mapping has also revealed further detail of the network of roads and structures (red on the illustration) associated with the town. © Norfolk Museums and Archaeology Service/English Heritage. Ordnance Survey map reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO © Crown Copyright, licence number 100019340.

Improving decision making

The project is already facilitating decisions concerning planning and development within the project area. The most extensive of the planned new developments is the Norwich Northern Distributor Route, or NDR.

Several archaeological sites have been identified to the east of Norwich, along the line of the proposed NDR. These include a large, D-shaped enclosure at Great Plumstead, which probably dates to the medieval or post medieval period. Work at Harford Farm, to the south of the city, has augmented our existing knowledge of a site excavated in 1990, prior to the construction of a similar road scheme.

NMP extract of Plumstead. NMP mapping © Norfolk Museums and Archaeology Service/English Heritage. Ordnance Survey map reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO © Crown Copyright, licence number 100019340.

Perhaps the most extensive of the new developments planned for the project area is the Norwich Northern Distributor route, or NDR. Aerial photographs of the area to the east of Norwich show several archaeological sites which are located within the proposed line of the NDR including a large, partially double-ditched, D-shaped enclosure at Great Plumstead. The western part of the enclosure runs parallel to a ditch which forms part of a medieval to post medieval field system, and it is likely that the enclosure is of a similar date. It lies within a relatively dense area of archaeological sites visible on the sands and gravels to the north of the River Yare, which includes a possible ring ditch or oval barrow dating to the late Neolithic or early Bronze Age, and at least one possible late Iron Age to early Roman D-shaped enclosure. NMP mapping © Norfolk Museums and Archaeology Service/English Heritage. Ordnance Survey map reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO © Crown Copyright, licence number 100019340.

For further details about the Norfolk NMP project, please contact:
Norfolk Historic Environment Service, Union House, Gressenhall, Dereham, Norfolk NR20 4DR; tel 01362 869283; email sophie.tremlett@norfolk.gov.uk

Further details of these and other archaeological sites in Norfolk can be found on the Norfolk Heritage Explorer website.

For further information on a project or any other aspect of the work of the Aerial Survey team please contact us at: AerialSurvey@english-heritage.org.uk.