Another explanation is that the site was a migration settlement to which the inland farmers came to graze their cattle and sheep and keep summer residence, but it is unlikely that a substantial building would be needed on a site used only for a few months each year. Another idea is that the site was a trading post; this is suggested by the presence of amber pieces. But again this is unlikely since the coast may have been over a mile further out than today’s shore line, although the river may have been navigable. There is one other possibility and this is shown through the name of the local village, SALTHOUSE. This is witness to known salt manufacture on the marshes in the late Middle-Ages, and it is possible that it was already being produced in the Roman period, though we have no positive evidence to prove this theory. The most likely use for such a site as Gramborough is as a small look-out post, part of a chain around the Norfolk coast. This also explains the presence of a substantial building whose substructure and superstructure were built to stand up to the rough weather found on the coast and the possible danger of an armed assault.
The inhabitants on the site seem to have been slightly richer than elsewhere in the area, with most of their pottery coming from the Nene valley and Brampton. By the end of the third century, it is perhaps possible that poverty overtook the inhabitants and they tried to reuse broken vessels by drilling holes in the pottery and wiring the pieces together.
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