Tasburgh Enclosure, Norfolk......

…..and during the heatwave, on the hottest day of the year so far, when the temperature was higher than in Barbados, there I was standing in the middle of a sun-baked field in Norfolk!  Some things never change!

Tasburgh enclosure was possibly an earthworks consisting of a bank and ditch dating to the iron age, and therefore could be roughly of a smilar age to the hill fort at Bloodgate Hill, South Creake,  however, the few excavations that have been carried out haven't as yet shown any evidence of this era, and it might in fact date to the Anglo Saxon period as a fortification or burgh, it might equally as well have been built by the Vikings themselves, at the time of the 9th century AD when them pesky Vikings were invading East Anglia, wreaking havoc and then settling down here to grow carrots!

There has been very little excavation, although this year a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund has meant that more work can be carried out on this site ….. hip hip hooray!  So let's hope this means that the fabulous Norfolk Archeological Society can work their magic and get to the bottom of it, as it were.

The eastern part of the hedge is one of the oldest hedges in the parish, it could be early medieval or earlier!

The curved western side of the bank is clearly visible but has been ploughed down and was once much higher (not difficult!)…

Counting sheep....

Yes, this is a hill to a Suffolk girl!

And in a sweltering 36 degrees Centigrade, scorchio!

Tasburgh church on the horizon, the southern side of the fort probably coincides with the southern boundary of the churchyard ….

The highest point of the fort looking North....

Tasburgh church, what an interesting round tower... built between 1050 and 1100

and built within the Tasburgh enclosure.

On either side of the tower the corners of the narrower earlier nave can be seen together with the line of the old roof which had a steeper slope....

How nice....

But wives, children and servants must have been very unruly in Victorian times …..!

Is that a small door, or have I had a sudden growth spurt?