A spectacular new Norfolk treasure has been unveiled - after years of being used as a doorstop.
The 3,500-year-old Rudham Dirk, a ceremonial Middle Bronze Age dagger, was first ploughed up near East Rudham more than a decade ago. But the landowner didn’t realise what it was and was using it to prop open his office door... continues...
A team of archaeologists from the University of Nottingham are to commence a dig at the Roman town of Venta Icenorum at Caistor St Edmund, just outside Norwich, looking for evidence of occupation in the Iron Age... continues...
The museum at Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse, near Dereham, currently has an exhibition called 'Norfolk's First Farmers'. Items on display include a famous 11,500-year-old antler harpoon used for hunting, and which was dredged up from the sea floor north of Cromer in 1931, and a bronze-age cauldron... continues...
Excavations in Ber Street have unearthed the traces of a Bronze Age barrow, including pieces of burial urn. The barrow is thought to be the first found in the centre of the city... continues...
A gold torc made from 25 metres of twisted wire was found in Sedgeford, Norfolk in the 1960s - but it had a bit missing. It went on display in the British Museum (who don't care if things are a bit battered). Now Steve Hammond, a local amateur archaeologist, has found the missing section, about 400 yards away from the original find spot... continues...
An article by Ben Kendall of the Eastern Daily Press online, 26th April 2005:
One of the biggest hauls of Bronze Age artefacts ever found in Norfolk has been uncovered in a garden - but it very nearly ended up in a skip... continues...
An Iron Age torc unearthed in a Norfolk field this summer has been hailed as an exceptional find on a par with the famed Snettisham hoard... continues...
It will soon be a shrine to the modern age of commercialism, where shoppers park their cars as they head into the city. But excavation work on the new park-and-ride site at Harford, south of Norwich, has revealed an insight into a rich and intriguing period of the area's ancient history... continues...
From an article by Alan Hamilton, published in The Times, on 3rd September 2003:
Cryptic runic symbols discovered on a block of granite in Norfolk, initially thought to be of huge archaeological significance, have been found to be just eight years old... continues...
A holiday-maker has stumbled upon elaborate carvings believed to date back to the Bronze Age on a large granite stone at Gorleston beach.
The man spotted the markings, which were gouged deep into a rock used as part of the sea defence to protect the promenade and sea wall, and reported his findings to the Norfolk Archaeological Unit... continues...
If the link's still working you can see them: do they have beaky faces like the Uffington horse? They're facing the right way. Though horses do have to face one way or the other, I admit.
Hoard of golden coins found at dig site
August 14, 2003 08:20
By any stretch of the imagination, it is an unusual moneybox... continues...
A cluster of rare flint tools unearthed at Norwich City's football ground could date back 12,000.
Archaeologists have found flint artefacts on the site of a new stand at the club's Carrow Road ground... continues...
I was hoping that I might be able to help Mr. Cope with his next book by suggesting a few places he could visit in Norfolk, perhaps when he plays at UEA here in May. Then the spectre of Foot and Mouth loomed, however two of these three could probably still be visited, as they aren't actually on farmland.
There is very little to actually find in Norfolk, since there is a fairly large amount of reclaimed land here and much of the rest has been heavily ploughed over the years. As such it's likely that many possible sites have now been permanently lost, only the occasional aerial photo giving us a glimpse of what might have been!
So here are a few slightly obscure sites that I have managed to locate...
(1) Arminghall Henge (Map ref. 134 - 239060)
- Just to the south of Norwich, this is likely to be closed off due to foot and mouth as it lies in an area used for pasture, but usually it can be reached via the footpath that cuts though the field - the henge is actually marked on the OS map. Its remarkable that it hasn't been totally destroyed, as it is close to the railway and an electrical sub station (a pylon actually stands on its outer edge). However it has been very nearly ploughed out... you can just make out bank and ditches from ground level. The henge is mentioned in many books (there's a nice bit about it in Mike Pitts' "Hengeworld") and was discovered from the air in 1929 by Wing Commander Insall, who also discovered Woodhenge in the same way. Carbon dating shows it to be contemporary with many dates for Avebury and Durrington Walls. There is an excellent photograph of it (and some of the other places I have mentioned) in the Norfolk Museum Services book "Norfolk from the Air Vol.1"
(2) Ditchingham Longbarrow (Map ref. 134 - 344912)
- Amazingly, this place isn't marked on the OS Map (it's just to the West of the point on the map where the footpath and bridleway cross), yet Broome Heath in Ditchingham must have been a veritable prehistoric metropolis in it's time. Not only is there this huge longbarrow, but there are a number of Bronze Age round barrows close by, and just to the south west of the barrow is a curved enclosure, which can be perceived from the ground. The barrow itself hasn't been officially excavated but the enclosure has and looks to be neolithic. There were certainly a number of flint flakes around with the tell-tale percussion marks on them.
(3) The Stockton Stone (Map ref. 134 - 386946)
- This is marked on the OS Map (it's on the bank between the road and the layby that runs around it) - Norfolk's only standing stone, and at a huge three and a half feet, quite impressive!! A curiosity...the stone itself looks remarkably similar in nature to many of the stones used in Wessex monuments...but is it genuine or not? Even so, why is it there...I haven't really been able to find this one out. Still, a standing stone in Norfolk, no matter how small, is very special.
Once the foot and mouth restrictions are lifted I am hoping to continue to locate what I can of Norfolk's few ancient sites (including an area of barrows at West Rudham - Map ref. 132 - 810253). Also of interest to others might be Warham Camp (Map ref. 132 - 945408) and Holkham Camp (Map ref. 132 - 874447), both Iron Age Hillforts which I think are on farmland - it's been a while since I went last - and the constantly surprising Holme next the Sea - former site of 'Seahenge', the replica of which is on the edge of an orchard, just north of a kink in the road at map. ref 132 - 719433, and clearly visible from the road.