NHER 42105 (Monument record) - World War Two beach scaffolding

October 2005. Norfolk NMP.
A line of World War Two beach scaffolding is visible on 1940s aerial photographs (S1), (S2), (S3) and (S4), between TG 4572 2508 and TG 4820 2223. It extended along the entire length of Horsey dunes, continuing to the southeast beyond the Hundred Stream and along Winterton Dunes as NHER 42132 (the division between the two ‘sites’ is more or less arbitrary). It has been mapped as a continuous line; small gaps which may be visible on aerial photographs taken in 1946-7 were not clear enough to map and are unlikely to have been part of the original defensive scheme. The scaffolding, which is first visible on aerial photographs taken in 1945 (S1), replaced several less extensive barriers of barbed wire or scaffolding (variously recorded as NHER 42103, 42104, 42120, 42129 and 42130) which protected individual gaps in the dunes. It was still visible in 1947 (S4), while a section may be visible at approximately TG 4638 2445 on aerial photographs taken in 1953 (S5). This suggests that at least parts of the scaffolding were not removed after the war and may remain buried on the beach.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 27 October 2005.