NHER 52077 (Monument record) - Site of a probable World War Two searchlight battery

April 2009. Norfolk NMP.
The site of a probable World War Two searchlight battery is visible on aerial photographs to the west of Dunston Hall (S1-S4). The site is centred on TG 2201 0232 and is located next to the Electricity Grid Transformer Station. The site consists of an ovoid emplacement, assumed to be for a searchlight, a pillbox and a small number of other military operational structures and huts. The site has largely been dismantled by April 1946 (S2), although the pillbox and three other small structures still remain at this date.
The site consists of a number of structures linked by a central track running across the site. At the northwestern end of the track is an ovoid emplacement, measuring 16.5m by 13.5m, with a causeway in the bank to the west. This is assumed to be the emplacement for a searchlight. Approximately 30m along the track from the emplacement is a possible structure, at TG 2200 0238 (S1). This structure cannot be seen clearly and this may be due to the poor quality of the scans available, although it is also possible that it was camouflaged in 1942. At the southeastern end (TG 2209 0219) of the track is another structure, although this cannot be seen clearly on any of the available photography and therefore cannot be interpreted accurately. It is feasible that it is the predictor for the searchlight. Another small structure is located along the line of the track at TG 2205 0227. Again the function of this is unknown, although it may have been an operational structure, such as a generator. Along the side of the site is a row of four huts (S1) and these have been removed by 1946 (S2). A pair of possible gun positions may also be visible within the hedge line forming the western extent of the installation (S2). A series of camouflaged structures have also been tentatively identified along the southern edge of the site in 1942 (S1). Partially due to the poor quality of the scans it is impossible to distinguish these features from agricultural structures, such as haystacks. No trace of these features is visible in 1946 (S2).
To the immediate northwest of the searchlight is an area of structures, including a type 22 pillbox at TG 2193 0244 and a rectangular structure, 3m by 3.5m, at TG 2195 0243 (S2-S4). These structures are completely camouflaged in 1942 (S2) and partially obscured in 1946 (S2). It is possible that other structures existed within this area that are obscured on the wartime photography and that were removed by the time the site is first visible with a degree of clarity in 1956 (S3). The pillbox and the rectangular structure next to it are still visible in 1970 (S3), but have been demolished by 1988 (S5), presumably when the Electricity Station was constructed.
S. Horlock (NMP), 23 April 2009.