NHER 52299 (Monument record) - World War Two bomb craters

February 2010. Norfolk NMP.
A line of three World War Two bomb craters is visible as earthworks on aerial photographs (S1)-(S3), between TG 2338 0584 and TG 2358 0587. Not visible on photographs taken in April 1942 (S4), the bombs must have been dropped some time after this date but before March 1944 when they are first visible (S1). It is not certain that all three craters are the product of the same attack, although their positioning and spacing in relation to each other would suggest this. They fall either side of the Norfolk Railway (NHER 13571), which may have been the intended target (and could have been hit at about TG 2350 0584 by a theoretical fourth bomb, although there is no evidence of this on the aerial photographs); alternatively, they could have been aimed at the Anti-Aircraft Ordnance Depot (NHER 52492) approximately 400m to the southeast, or been dropped more-or-less at random. All three craters are depicted as ‘ponds’ on modern Ordnance Survey maps, indicating that they probably still survive as earthworks. Only one (the easternmost) appears (on the 1940s aerial photographs) to have a typical ‘halo’ of upcast material, but even this could be a product of the surrounding vegetation.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 4 February 2010.