NHER 42509 (Monument record) - Site of World War Two air raid shelters north of Norman Lane, Cobholm Island

May 2006. Norfolk NMP.
Four probable air raid shelters dating to World War Two are visible as earthworks and structures on aerial photographs (S1), between TG 5170 0769 and TG 5173 0772. They lay in the gardens of terrace houses which formerly lay to the north of Norman Lane (see the aerial photographs (S1) and the Ordnance Survey 2nd edition 25 inch map (S2)). This location, together with their small size, suggests that they were private shelters, each intended for the use of a particular household. They may have been Anderson shelters, or similar proprietary designs. The three shelters at the western end of the terrace are all visible as earthwork mounds, each of which probably covered a small semi-sunken or surface-level structure. Judging by the shape of the mounds, the underlying structures probably had a curved shape in profile, with flat, vertical façades at their northwest end. The northeastern shelter is visible as a small, rectangular, surface-level or semi-sunken structure, which is distinguished from a normal outbuilding by its curved shape in profile. It is clear from its shadow that the façade at its northwest end was taller, as well as wider, than the main body of the shelter. This is a feature typical of Anderson shelters and the structure may have been an Anderson shelter without its usual covering of earth. More recent aerial photographs, e.g. (S3), and modern Ordnance Survey maps demonstrate that the area has been redeveloped in the post-war period. There is no evidence on these that any part of the shelters now survives above ground.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 16 May 2006.