NHER 44916 (Monument record) - Three probable World War Two bomb craters

August 2006. Norfolk NMP.
A line of probable World War Two bomb craters is visible as earthworks on aerial photographs (S1)-(S4), between TG 4415 1949 and TG 4407 1939. The even spacing, equal size, circularity and linear alignment of the earthworks are all typical of bomb craters. The intended target may have been the World War Two airfield on Heigham Holmes (NHER 25538), approximately 1km to the north.

The earliest consulted aerial photographs of the site were taken in 1945 (S1), by which time the craters may have already existed for some time. The easternmost appears to have been at least partially backfilled, while the westernmost has a ‘halo’ of disturbed or trampled ground around it (not mapped) probably caused by livestock using it as a drinking pond. The central crater, which still had a ‘halo’ of upcast material around it at this date, may have also had a small structure on its east side; by 1946 (S2) this is no longer visible. More recent aerial photographs of the site, e.g. (S4), suggest that only the westernmost crater remains as a slight earthwork.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 4 August 2006.