Monument record BUT 068 - Possible Medieval road, visible as cropmarks.

The remains of a possible road and field boundaries of medieval date are visible as cropmarks on aerial photographs of 1972, centred on circa TM377492, about 300m to the north east of Butley Abbey Farm, Butley parish (S1). The possible road is about 350m in length and runs from circa TM37864914 to circa TM37694743. If it is a road, it would have connected the roads now visible to the north and south and skirted the area of Butley Abbey, possibly reflecting the original boundary of Butley Abbey precinct. It appears to be connected to similar features to the south-west, also visible as cropmarks, that continue in fields further to the south, which again may reflect previous Abbey roads or structures. Such a feature is not marked on the available historic maps, such as Hodskinsons map of Suffolk of 1783, suggesting that if they are features related to the Abbey, post-dissolution land redistribution and reorganisation has obliterated the previous land divisions (S2). However, the possibility must be raised that at least some of these features are simply cropmarks forming over non-archaeological features such as Post Medieval land drains, as can be clearly seen in the field to the south (S3).