NHER 42130 (Monument record) - Site of World War Two coastal defences

November 2005. Norfolk NMP.
A World War Two coastal defence site is visible as a group of structures and buildings on aerial photographs (S1), (S2), (S3), (S4) and (S5), centred at TG 4809 2242. In 1940 (S1) and (S2), two barriers of barbed wire or similar material are visible on the beach, each of which encloses a small structure or building, possibly gun emplacements or similar installations. The northwestern structure (at TG 4808 2244) was rectangular in shape; the southeastern (at TG 4814 2236) may have been rectangular or polygonal (the angle of the photograph is too oblique for its form to be made out). A possible camouflaged structure at approximately TG 4809 2242 may be the probable Type 22 pillbox visible on aerial photographs taken later in the war (see below).

By 1945 (and more clearly visible in 1946) (S3) and (S4) the two barbed wire barriers had been removed and neither of the structures they enclosed is visible. A continuous line of beach scaffolding (NHER 42105) now ran behind the site. A rectangular structure to the northwest (at TG 4803 2248) could have been a military building or could be part of the sea wall. A Type 24 pillbox stood at TG 4806 2241; this, together with other elements of the site, survived as an extant building until at least the early 1950s (see (S5) for example). Approximately 20m to its east was a polygonal structure (mentioned above), probably a Type 22 pillbox.

There is no evidence on more recent aerial photographs (e.g. (S6)) that any element of the site remains in situ but it is possible that any surviving structures have been obscured by sand or vegetation.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 24 November 2005.