Cropmarks of an Oval Enclosure, Ripple, visible on aerial survey of 1974. (1)

Aerial photographs taken July 16th 2001 (and on earlier occasions) show the oval enclosure centred at TR 3537 4927. Aligned broadly northeast-southwest, it measures a maximum of 67 metres by 58 metres. No definite entrances are visible in the ditch circuit. The enclosure lies near the middle of a north-south spread of settlement-associated cropmarks visible over some 500 metres. They need not, of course, be associated with the enclosure. The cropmarks include double-ditched trackways, probable field boundaries, possible enclosure ditches plus two circular features which may represent ring ditches rather than round houses, though only excavation could confirm this. They are located at TR 35364955 and TR 35534907, measuring 13 metres and 20 metres in diameter respectively, though the latter is a particularly faint cropmark and need not be of archaeological origin. (2, 3)

To the south, further cropmarks of possible field boundaries are visible on aerial photographs taken in 2006. This boundary is aligned north-south and can be traced intermittently for approximately 160m. Many of these breaks reflect the crop-free tracks that the tractor has created. This boundary is centred on TR 3549 4903.(4 -5)

<1> SSAP 303 (OS Card Reference). SKE49538.

<2> KARU Record Card DV 353 (OS Card Reference). SKE45525.

<3> 2006, AP NMR TR 3549/42 (24270/03 8-JUL-2006 (OS Card Reference). SKE55292.

<4> 2001, AP (NMR TR 3549/29 21308/22 16-JUL-2001 (OS Card Reference). SKE55291.

<5> 2001, AP (NMR TR 3549/24 21308/18 16-JUL-2001 (OS Card Reference). SKE55290.