Monument record SOL 057 - Cropmarks of posible rectangular parchmarks

July 2014. Lothingland, Lowestoft and North Suffolk Coast and Heaths National Mapping Programme.
The cropmarks of a possible rectangular parchmark may be visible on aerial photographs (S1). It is reported that building material and rubble have been recovered from the former area of Ashby Green (ASY 010) and it has been suggested as being the site of a former medieval settlement. This parchmark could feasibly indicate the site of a building and could therefore be the source of the building stone. However it is located within an area of darker ground or deeper soil visible on aerial photographs that could relate to an area of quarrying/clay extraction or similar ground disturbance.
Large numbers of cropmarks have been recorded in this wider area under LUD 016 and have been interpreted as part of a much larger site as representing settlement and fields of Roman and/or medieval date. The features recorded within this part of the site could feasibly relate to a former medieval settlement, associated within this parchmark, although the 1652 Estate Map of Somerleyton (S2) would indicate that much of this site is under woodland during the this period and that some of the cropmarks relate to woodland boundaries.
S. Horlock (Norfolk Historic Environment Service), 11th July 2014.