Monument record IKN 115 - Possible cultivation plots on Iken Heath

June 2015. Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty National Mapping Programme.
Traces of what may have been cultivation plots of post medieval or even modern date are visible as earthworks on aerial photographs of Iken Heath (S1)-(S2). The possible plots are evident on a photograph taken in 1934 (S1) as a series of low, linear banks and/or lines of cleared vegetation, arranged rather irregularly but approximately parallel to each other, spaced approximately. 30m apart. They more or less run along the contour line. Traces are still visible on photographs from 1945 (S2), although the features are much grown over. These might be traces of episodic, short-term arable cultivation of the heath, as described by Williamson (S3). It could have taken place either in the post medieval period, or, given their relatively ‘fresh’ appearance, even in the 20th century, perhaps during the First World War when food was scarce. The area was certainly more enclosed in the 19th century, as evidenced by the Ordnance Survey 1st edition map, and surviving and former boundaries visible on the photos. See too IKN 113 for possible further evidence of cultivation of the heath.
S. Tremlett (Norfolk Historic Environment Service), 25th June 2015.