NHER 42302 (Monument record) - World War Two defences and air raid shelters on Arnott and Buxton Avenues and Marine Parade, Gorleston-on-Sea

January 2006. Norfolk NMP.
A group of World War Two defences and air raid shelters is visible on aerial photographs on Arnott and Buxton Avenues and Marine Parade, Gorleston-on-Sea (S1)-(S4). This includes a type 24 pillbox, at least one air raid shelter and a slit trench. The site is centred on TG 5290 0244.

At TG 5285 0238 is a type 24 pillbox, clearly visible as such in 1947 (S5). This pillbox was constructed in-between February 1941 (S2) and May 1944 (S3). The earlier aerial photographs of this structure show it as a composite roofed square structure (S4), indicating that it had been camouflaged. To the north is a small flat-roofed rectangular structure at TG 5290 0243, measuring 3.5m by 3m. This was also constructed between February 1941 (S2) and May 1944 (S3). In the aerial photographs from 1945 the top of the structure can be seen clearly and it has been painted to camouflage the structure. It is not clear whether this is a surface air raid shelter or a military building. The camouflage paint may indicate the latter. It is possible that it is a Home Guard shelter. This structure is located within an area of grass and in-between February 1941 and May 1944 (S3) the southeastern corner of this grassed area appears to have been stripped of vegetation, forming an L-shape of bare earth or disturbed ground. Although nothing definite is visible on the aerial photographs it is possibly that some additional military structures were erected and removed during this period.

In the rear garden of 54 Marine Parade is a large, oblong earth-covered mound, with a rectangular concrete façade to the front (S4). The mound measures 5.5m by 4.5m. It seems likely that this is an air raid shelter. This covered structure is located immediately behind a large flat-topped rectangular concrete structure, visible from 1940 onwards (S1). It is possible that this structure is also military in origin, although there is not definite evidence for this. The structure remains post-war and therefore it may just be a domestic building and was not mapped. A 3.5m long L-shaped slit trench is clearly visible to the rear of the houses on Marine Parade at TG 5291 0251 and as with the other components of this site, it is post-1941.

The location of many of the military structures have since been developed into housing and Buxton Avenue, Bately Avenue and Arnott Avenue now stand over their locations.
S. Massey (NMP), 30 January 2006.