NHER 43656 (Monument record) - Site of probable World War Two air raid shelter at Dolman Close, Cobholm Island

May 2006. Norfolk NMP.
A probable air raid shelter dating to World War Two is visible as an earthwork and structure on aerial photographs (S1), centred at TG 5181 0749. It lay in the front garden of a terrace house on Dolman Square (see the Ordnance Survey 2nd edition 25 inch map (S2)) which has since been demolished. This location, together with its small size, suggests that it was a private shelter, intended for the use of this particular household. The shelter is visible as an earthwork mound, which probably covered a small semi-sunken or surface-level structure. Judging by the shape of the mound, the latter probably had a curved shape in profile. It may have been an Anderson shelter, or a similar proprietary design. A structural element at the northeastern end of the mound was probably a façade that revetted the entrance to the shelter. More recent aerial photographs, e.g. (S3), and modern Ordnance Survey maps demonstrate that the area has been redeveloped in the post-war period. Clearly, no element of the shelter now survives above ground.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 15 May 2006.