NHER 27313 (Monument record) - Site of World War Two anti-tank ditch

September 2005. Norfolk NMP.
A World War Two anti tank ditch is visible on aerial photographs located across an area of open ground adjacent to the coast at Sea Palling (S1-S2). This defensive ditch constructed in between September 1940 and July 1946 (S1 and S2). The site is centred on TG 4284 2749.

The ditch runs from TG 4283 2759 to TG 4288 2743 and is up to 5m wide with a bank, 2m wide, on the northern side. There are another series of mounds and banks, parallel to the dunes. It is not clear whether these are World War Two in date also, but it seems likely that they are related to this major phase of construction. The defensive purpose of this ditch is not obvious, as it does not appear to be protecting an approach from the sea. It seems to be encircling an area of dunes. At TG 4285 2745 is a possible concrete base, indicating the position of a former structure. Other military structures have been recorded in close vicinity, such as NHER 27296, 32642. In 1946 a relocated roadblock of a considerable number of anti-tank cubes (NHER 27295) is visible at the end of Beach Road, 100m to the east of the end of the ditch. It is possible that all of these either removed or relocated components were incorporated into a defended point. They may have been defended a military installation situated on the dunes that has either been removed by 1946 or is camouflaged from view.
S. Massey (NMP), 29 September 2005.