NHER 27375 (Monument) - World War Two air raid shelter

May 2005. Norfolk NMP.
A World War Two air raid shelter is visible as an earth covered structure on aerial photographs (S1) and (S2), centred at TG 5268 0646. It is located in a probable storage yard, approximately 50m to the south of what appears to have been a light industrial complex. This, together with its relatively small size when compared with large public shelters such as NHER 27374 to the east, suggests that it may have been provided for a local workforce. The fact that the earth covering does not look particularly fresh on photographs taken in 1941 (S1) could indicate that it was constructed before the outbreak of hostilities, in response to the Munich crisis of 1938, for example. More recent aerial photographs and modern maps indicate that since the end of the war the site has been levelled and at least partially built over.

The shelter consists of a rectilinear, earth covered structure, which either stood at ground level or was slightly sunken. It probably had a curvilinear or parabolic profile in section and may have been an Anderson shelter or another standard type. Blast walls are visible at each end; these presumably protected two entrances.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 19 May 2005.