NHER 60593 (Building record) - Unlocated barn in Southrepps (Southrepps, poorly located)

One of twelve or thirteen so-called 'red barns', built by the East Anglian Property Company in 1936–1937. The barns were painted red, and were next to fields which had obstructions such as hedges and ditches removed, to create one large, flat field. The barns and associated fields were identified by the RAF in 1940 as potential landing grounds for a planned German invasion. The farm owners, all Dutch nationals, were arrested in one night, the barns camouflaged and the fields obstructed (S1). The owners were later released.
The East Anglian Real Property Company were one of the pioneers of sugar beet production in East Anglia. Wade-Martins and Williamson describe the barns as built for the storage of sugar beet (S2).
The precise location of the 'red barn' at Southrepps is not known, but this was one of the locations listed on a memo from the Air Ministry.
K. Hamilton (NHES), 9 February 2015.