NHER 42430 (Monument record) - World War Two air raid shelters, West Avenue and Poplar Avenue, Gorleston on Sea

January 2006. Norfolk NMP.
A group of World War Two air raid shelters is visible on aerial photographs within the back gardens on or near West Avenue and Poplar Avenue, Gorleston. (S1). These shelters are visible as earthen mounds, probably covering Anderson shelters, and these would have been for the use of the families living in the properties. An elongated mound to the east of West Avenue may have been a communal civilian shelter. The site is centred on TG 5232 0329, although this point does not correspond to an archaeological feature on the ground.

The majority of the shelters are all approximately 3m by 2m and are located within the gardens of numbers 14, 16 West Avenue, 25 Poplar Avenue, 89 Middleton Road. An elongated mound is visible backing onto properties at the eastern of West Avenue, now developed and the back gardens of numbers 178, 180, 182 Lowestoft Road. The mound measures 20m long and is up to 4m wide. A conjoined concrete structure is visible at the front of the structure. It is assumed that this is a large and probably communal air raid shelter.
S. Massey (NMP), 20 January 2006.