NHER 27543 (Monument record) - World War Two coastal defences

August 2005. Norfolk NMP.
World War Two coastal defences including barbed wire, pillboxes and slit trenches are visible on contemporary aerial photographs (S1-5). These defences were centred on TG 5188 1459.

A hexagonal pillbox, probably a standard type 22, had been constructed on a small headland at TG 5212 1423 by August 1940 (S1). Barbed wire had been placed along this section of the beach to the south of California Gap by this date (S1). However this line of defence had been removed by December of that year, possibly due to coastal erosion (S2). Also by December two weapons pits had been positioned on the cliff top at TG 5189 1466 and a slit trench to the north of California Gap at TG 5185 1474. By February 1941 additional slit trenches had been added to the site at TG 5183 1460 and TG 5176 1488 and two more weapons pits were located at TG 5171 1475 (S3).

Extensive barbed wire defences were present around California Gap by May 1944 (S4). A strip of barbed wire extended along the cliff top to the south of the Gap. Further barbed wire extended inland from TG 5193 1457 to TG 5150 1474 before curving back to the cliff top at TG 5175 1493. A type 24 pillbox and spigot mortar emplacement were located at the western end of the barbed wire circuit between the road and former railway line at TG 5155 1474. These two defences survive and are recorded as NHER 18356. Aerial photographs dating to September 1945 show two anti tank cubes blocking the end of the road at California Gap at TG 5285 1472 (S5). Although they were not clearly visible on earlier aerial photographs, it is likely that they were positioned in the early part of World War Two. The barbed wire defences around California Gap had been removed by July 1946 (S6).
J. Albone (NMP), 2 August 2005