NHER 43625 (Monument record) - Site of World War Two air raid shelters at 6 and 9 Anson Road, Southtown

May 2006. Norfolk NMP.
Two probable air raid shelters dating to World War Two are visible as earthworks and structures on aerial photographs (S1), at TG 5208 0693 and TG 5206 0692. They lay in the back gardens of 6 and 9 Anson Road, Southtown. This location, together with their small size, suggests that they were private shelters, intended for the use of these particular households. The shelter at Number 9 is visible as an earthwork mound with a curved shape in profile. This presumably covered a curved-profile, surface-level or semi-sunken structure, perhaps an Anderson shelter or a similar proprietary design. It is not visible on more recent aerial photographs of the area, e.g. (S2), and has presumably been levelled. The shelter at Number 6 appears to have been a more substantial structure, probably constructed at surface level, its roof covered by earth, turf or similar material. Two small structures on the roof may have provided ventilation. At the same time, the interpretation of this structure as a shelter remains uncertain: it could instead have been a more mundane outbuilding, such as a washhouse with a thatched roof. A small building is still visible at this approximate location on more recent aerial photographs of the site (S2) and is also depicted on modern Ordnance Survey maps. Whether it equates to any part of the 1940s structure is not known.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 9 May 2006.