NHER 53553 (Cropmark and Earthwork record) - World War Two anti glider ditches, pits and bomb craters and possible slit trench

April 2010. Norfolk NMP.
World War Two anti-landing obstacles are visible as earthworks on aerial photographs (S1-S9) across an extensive area of land south of Hellesdon Hall Road, west Norwich, centred on TG 2040 1029.
First visible in 1940, the trenches, pits, banks and mounds that make up the obstructions would have been excavated with the intention of preventing the landing of enemy aircraft (although their origination as a training exercise for local troops, and their role as a more general anti-invasion defence cannot be ruled out). In some areas the earthworks are arranged in a rough grid formation; in others, more isolated pits or linear obstacles predominate. The site is just one of several groups of such obstacles evident surrounding the city (see NHER 51903 and 53254, for example).
Several of the circular pit features visible within the area appear to be bomb craters, as they exhibit a bank of possible up-cast spoil around them, although those situated along the lines of the ditches may have been related to the defences.
A possible slit or practice trench is also visible to the west (S6), running from TG 2014 1034 to TG 2010 1022, as an earthwork ditch with banks of spoil around. It is possible that this feature is a modern field drain, but has been mapped due to its proximity to the anti aircraft ditches.
Two east west ditches running from TG 2073 1031 to TG 2063 1030 are visible in the field to the east, and have been distinguished from the possible Romano-British field system in the area (NHER 366).
E. Bales (NMP), April 2010.