NHER 50741 (Monument) - Probable World War Two military training area in Rackheath Park

December 2007. Norfolk NMP.
A probable World War Two military training area is visible as earthworks on aerial photographs (S1)-(S5), centred at TG 2716 1343. The features occupy an area of rough ground at the north end of Rackheath Park (NHER 30518). The earthworks comprise lengths of zigzag practice trench, as well as shorter V-shaped and linear trenches. Although they are only limited in extent, other signs of activity, such as tracks and areas of disturbance, suggest that military activity once extended over much of this area. (It is difficult, however, to tell for certain which features relate to military activity and which relate to non-military activity, such as tree-felling.) The trenches do not look fresh in 1945, when the earliest available aerial photographs were taken. This suggests that they date from earlier in the war, and therefore may pre-date the adjacent World War Two airfield at Rackheath (NHER 8170), the domestic site for which (NHER 50740) occupied much of the central and southern portions of the park. The area of the visible trenches is now under arable cultivation and the earthworks have presumably been levelled; however, other elements of the site could survive within woodland.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 6 December 2007.