More information : [TL 9120 7607] "Moat' [in Burnthall Plantation.] (1)
Class C earthwork - simple enclosure. A circular stronghold of rampart and ditch with an entrance on the W where the northern end of the rampart broadens. (2) Of uncertain age (3)(5), but maybe R.B. Gouge and fragments of pottery in Thetford Museum. Finds from the hut site in Ipswich Museum (3). Probably pre-Roman (4). (1-5)
In Burnthall Plantation, at the end of a low spur projecting into the flood-plain on the E. bank of the Black Bourn, at about 70 ft. O.D., there is a near-circular earthwork heavily overgrown with trees and bushes.
It comprises a large bank with outer ditch (see section) enclosing an area, averaging 70m. in diameter, which is flat and featureless. The work reaches its maximum porportions on the E. side, the most vulnerable approach, diminishing where it abuts on the flood-plain, to a portion of the N.W. side where it disappears (or has been reduced) altogether. The ditch, dry when visited, has a causeway across the N.N.W. probably an original entrance. Nothing is known of the 'gauge and fragments of pottery at Thetford Museum (inf: caretaker); and enquiries of Mr. Smedley, Hon. Corr. and Curator, Ipswich Museum, were negative - he has no material from a 'hut site'.
This is an unusual earthwork but it is probably analogous to
low-lying defensive works in Cambridgeshire discussed by Fox (a) but not classified.
Published survey (25" 1904) revised. (6)
TL 912761. Enclosure in Burnthall Plantation-scheduled. (7) |