NHER 26615 (Monument record) - Site of World War Two minefield

August 2001. Norfolk NMP.
A cleared World War Two minefield, represented by up to three parallel lines of circular depressions surrounded by up-cast, visible on 1946 RAF vertical images (S1-2). The minefield is situated along the coast, forming part of a wider system of coastal defences constructed between 1939 and 1944. The minefield runs along the northern coast of the Snettisham parish for 1.67km. It is between 18m and 27m wide. At its northern end there is a wider rectangular block that juts out to the east, 130m long and 61m wide. This extension corresponds with the Snettisham/Heacham parish boundary. The minefield appears to have been bounded on the landward side by a narrow bank. All along this bank at intervals of between 30m and 40m, are dark, almost square features, some of which appear to have height to them. The purpose function of these features is not clear. They do not appear to exploded mines or fence pos ts, but they seem to be related to the minefield and it associated bank. They bank is likely to have had some sort of barrier or fence along it and these features must have been integral to its purpose.
The westernmost (seaward) line of mines is the most regular and closely spaced, with most of the mines appearing to have been laid along the top of a bank or sea wall. The next two lines, to the east, are not laid quite so densely or neatly. The southern end of the minefield was probably covered by a pillbox (24558), although no trace of the structure is visible on the 1946 aerial photographs. Curiously there is no apparent line of defence to the south of this until site 23145, a distance of almost 1km.
S. Massey (NMP), 8 August 2001.