NHER 52495 (Monument record) - Site of World War Two defences at Harford Bridge

November 2009. Norfolk NMP.
World War Two defences are evident as a group of structures on aerial photographs (S1)-(S3), centred at TG 2204 0499. The defences comprise a road block, pillbox and possible spigot mortar emplacement, and were presumably sited to control access across the strategically important Harford Bridge.
The road block (at TG 2199 0500) lay on the north side of what was then the southernmost of two Harford Bridges (the course of the river has since altered, and the road and bridges rebuilt). Visible on photographs taken in 1942 and 1945, it consisted of two rows of sockets in the road surface into which anti-tank pins or rails could be inserted (only the sockets are visible; they have been mapped collectively using ‘Extent of Area’). Other road markings and possibly structures in the surrounding area (but not mapped) could represent checkpoints or similar, but this is uncertain. The Type 24 pillbox (at TG 2210 0502), also visible in 1942 and 1945, lay to the north of the river and faced southwards, covering the approach to the bridges. It had been removed by May 1951 (S4). The possible spigot mortar emplacement lay to the south of the river (at TG 2203 0495). Only the pedestal is visible, and this only on photographs taken in 1961 (S3), so its identification as a World War Two defence (rather than a storm drain cover or similar) is far from certain. Whether any element of any of these defences still survives is also uncertain.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 30 November 2009.