NHER 27516 (Monument record) - World War Two anti invasion defences

July 2005. Norfolk NMP.
World War Two anti invasion defences are visible on contemporary aerial photographs (S1 to S6). This group of defences was centred on TG 5235 1300 and includes barbed wire, beach scaffolding and a pillbox.
The earliest defences in the group were in place by August 1940 (S1). In the eastern part of the group a grid pattern of anti aircraft landing trenches had been excavated by that date. These included existing field boundary ditches that had been cleaned and widened with additional new ditches being adding in between. These ditches were centred on TG 5228 1294 and extended for 600m by 225m (S1 to S2). A slit trench was located at the western end of one of these ditches at TG 5220 1281. A further slit trench was located on a field boundary 200m to the northwest at TG 5214 1300.
To the east of the former railway line a group of defences had been placed along and adjacent to the beach by August 1940. An intermittent line of barbed wire extended along the beach between TG 5227 1353 and TG 5253 1282. Additional barbed wire was present on the cliff edge further to the south. A hexagonal pillbox, probably a type 22, was present at TG 52555 12735. A curved slit trench was located 50m southwest of the pillbox at TG 5251 1271. By February 1941 a weapons pit and rectangular building had been constructed 35m to the north of the pillbox at TG 5254 1277 (S3).
Intermittent sections of beach scaffolding had been placed along the beach by May 1944 (S4). This was present in five sections of different lengths and filled gaps between headlands in the dunes from TG 5231 1334 to TG 5252 1284. A further isolated section of beach scaffolding was present at TG 5257 1273. Also by this date at the southern end of the group were two concrete structures. These were located at TG 5254 1264 to the rear of former properties along the sea front. They comprised of two sections of two parallel rows of concrete walls or raised slabs that were spaced 2.5m apart and each of which extended for up to 43m in length. The western wall seemed to be slightly thicker, and possibly lower, than that to the east. The function of this structure is uncertain. The southern section appears to have been connected to the rear of one of the sea front houses, which were right on the cliff edge by that date. It is possible that the houses had been adapted for a military use and that this structure was somehow related to it. The site of the pillbox to the north of this structure had been lost to coastal erosion by May 1944 (S4). No debris from the pillbox was visible on the beach and it is likely that it was deliberately demolished or cleared. The majority of the other defences were still in place in July 1946 (S6) but they had been removed by April 1952 (S7).

Two possible World War Two bomb craters are visible as cropmarks in this area (NHER 27498, 27499) and military activity is present at a farm to the east (NHER 27527). Further World War Two coastal defences are present to the north (NHER 27524) and south (NHER 27508) of this group.
J. Albone (NMP), 27 July 2005.