NHER 51896 (Monument record) - Site of World War Two pillbox and gun emplacement at junction of Salhouse Road and Woodside Road

November 2008. Norfolk NMP.
A World War Two heavy machine gun emplacement/pillbox is visible as an extant structure on aerial photographs (S1)-(S2), at TG 2609 1104. The rectangular building is described in (S3) as a Type 20 variant, and in the Defence of Britain database (S4) and publication (S5) as a Vickers Machine Gun Emplacement. It measures approximately 3.5 by 4.4m, and has a blast wall or traverse protecting the entrance on its southwest side. The structure is part of World War Two defences identified in the immediate area, including two road blocks and a line of anti-tank cubes between two stretches of the defensive anti-tank ditch (NHER 51893) strategically placed to protect the road junction of Salhouse Road with Woodside Road. Approximately 55m to the south, on Woodside Road, a spigot mortar emplacement was also visible (NHER 51897). More recent aerial photographs (S6) illustrate that the pillbox has since been destroyed.
E. Bales (NMP), 5 November 2008.