NHER 42347 (Monument record) - A World War Two light anti-aircraft gun battery, Upper Esplanade, Gorleston-on-Sea

January 2006. Norfolk NMP.
A World War Two light anti-aircraft gun battery, including several machine gun emplacements, is visible on aerial photographs located on the Upper Esplanade on Gorleston Cliffs (S1)-(S2). These gun positions would have protected Gorleston-on-Sea town and military installations from low-flying aircraft. The site is centred on TG 5295 0288, although this point does not correspond to an archaeological feature on the ground. The gun battery gets constructed between February 1941 and March 1944. By August 1945 the site has long gone out of use and the emplacements all look quite dilapidated (S3).

At TG 5296 0290 is a large light anti-aircraft emplacement, probably for a static Bofors machine gun, which consisted of an earth-revetted rectangular emplacement, measuring 6.5m by 9.5m. This emplacement has several rectangular recesses for ammunition and the predictor. One of these may also have housed a covered shelter for gun maintenance (S4). The central gun mounting is also visible. Three other gun emplacements are visible to either side of the main light anti-aircraft gun. These are less substantial and more temporary and are located at TG 5296 0293, TG 5297 0286 and TG 5297 0283. The central gun mounting can be seen in two of the emplacements. At the rear of the site, alongside Marine Parade, are two small, rectangular structures, one at TG 5292 0290 and another TG 5293 0292. One of these may be an OSM building, an on-site magazine, as some light anti-aircraft sites were occasionally built at static Bofors sites (S5).
S. Massey (NMP), 27 January 2006.