Re-use of Roman Stone in the Reedham Area of East Norfolk: Intimations of a Possible ‘Lost’ Roman Fort

This paper explores the implications of re-used Roman building-stone for an apparently ‘lost’ site of possibly military significance in eastern Norfolk. Herein we revisit the low-lying peninsula (FIG. 1, A–B) between the marshy estuaries of the Bure and Yare where, in the parish church of St John the Baptist, Reedham, a grey-weathering quartzitic quartz sandstone (grey quartzite), suggested to be from ‘an exceptionally large Roman building near Reedham’, has apparently been exploited. Threefold grounds were cited at this first examination by one of the present writers. The stone is associated with abundant Roman brick and tile, and some blocks present chamfered edges and dressing marks ‘similar to those that occur on Roman monumental buildings’. Reportedly, the rock resembles stone used in the Roman shore fort at Brancaster on the North Norfolk coast, although no petrographie or mineralogical details are actually cited by Rose.