NHER 42368 (Monument record) - World War Two military defences and installations on Winterton beach and dunes

January 2006. Norfolk NMP.
A World War Two military site comprising coastal defences and ancillary structures is visible as a group of buildings, structures and earthworks on 1940s and later aerial photographs (S1)-(S6), situated on the coast between TG 4844 2174 and TG 4915 2071. It formed part of a continuous line of defences stretching along the coastline, recorded, for example, as NHER 42183 to the northwest and NHER 42444 to the southeast. The division of these defences into discrete archaeological sites is consequently somewhat arbitrary; the site described here comprises those defences and ancillary installations visible between Winterton Ness to the north and a point approximately midway towards Winterton Gap. It should be noted that many of the mapped features were not clearly visible on the rectified aerial photographs, and that rectification of the seaward side of the site was poor due to a lack of suitable control points. This was particularly true for the southern end of the site, where control was almost entirely lacking due to the constantly changing coastline. The location and plan of some elements, therefore, must be regarded as approximate.

The majority of the mapped structures and earthworks are visible on aerial photographs taken in 1940 (S1)-(S3). The most clearly visible elements of the site at this date were three minefields; the extent of each has been mapped by the NMP, but collectively they stretched the entire length of the site. To the west of the northern minefield, an area of disturbed ground (the extent of which has been mapped) at TG 4836 2160 may indicate military activity with the surrounding woodland. On the seaward side of the minefields, large earthwork banks are visible. These were flanked by quarry ditches and pits, as well as what appear to have been extensive areas of recent sand extraction (e.g. at TG 4872 2151). The banks formed a chain between TG 4864 2177 and TG 4903 2122 (the southernmost end may have been a track rather than a bank), with a more isolated bank at TG 4917 2095. They blocked gaps between the dunes and were probably erected to provide shelter and an anti tank obstacle. A bank and ditch visible on the beach between TG 4863 2182 and TG 4867 2176 (now levelled) may have been an anti tank ditch. Various possible small structures are visible on and around the banks: at TG 4871 2164, TG 4883 2147 and TG 4886 2144 (only the approximate extent of the last group of structures has been mapped by the NMP). These generally appear to have been insubstantial and temporary; they are not visible in 1944 (S4), and are often only visible on one set of 1940 aerial photographs, either (S1) or (S2)-(S3). Some may have been tents. Between the banks and the minefield, various probable military features are visible on the 1940 aerial photographs, including a possible circular structure at TG 4855 2169, a possible slit trench at TG 4900 2122, a possibly semi-sunken structure at TG 4918 2095, and a further structure, possibly a pillbox, at TG 4907 2111. The latter may correspond with the pillbox recorded as NHER 32649. Fragments of building material recovered from the beach during the Norfolk Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey, including NHER 41599, may derive from structures such as this. On the beach, a line of beach scaffolding or barbed wire is visible from TG 4869 2175 extending some distance to the south of the site; this is recorded as NHER 42132.

By 1944 and on later aerial photographs (S4)-(S6) the barbed wire or scaffolding on the beach had been replaced by a more extensive line of beach scaffolding (also recorded as NHER 42132). A short length of barbed wire at TG 4876 2162 was probably once part of a more extensive obstacle. The banks blocking the dunes remained substantially unchanged, although some modifications had taken place, such as the erection of a new length of bank at TG 4891 2137 and the excavation of a new extraction pit at TG 4882 2144. Most of the small structures visible in 1940 had probably been removed by this date; instead, a group of small structures, possibly tents, is visible at TG 4865 2174 and what appears to have been a rectangular structure is visible at TG 4882 2139, both in 1945 (S5) (and perhaps 1944 (S4) in the latter case). A line of three bomb craters is visible between TG 4880 2104 and TG 4892 2107. A group of pits at TG 4863 2168 might also have been bomb craters but they lack the generally regular appearance of such features. An intensively pitted area at TG 4865 2160, only the extent of which has been mapped by the NMP, could represent military or extractive activity, or could be the product of animal burrows. In addition to the mapped features, the whole area of the site, and land immediately to its west, was disturbed and scarred. While some of this disturbance, such as the trackways, was clearly caused by military activity, some may have again been caused by burrowing animals.

Much of the site appears to have been dismantled soon after the end of the war. Certain elements remain visible on recent aerial photographs of the site (S7), such as the bomb crater at TG 4880 2104 which is depicted as a pool on modern Ordnance Survey maps. It is possible that other elements of the site still remain but they have not been recognised on the consulted aerial photographs.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 24 January 2006.