NHER 62121 (Monument record) - Second World War huts and related features

December 2017. 'Brecks from Above' and Breckland National Mapping Programme.
Lines of Second World War huts, and evidence of related activity, are visible as structures and earthworks on 1940s aerial photographs (S1)-(S7). In many cases the huts themselves are not visible, only rectangular pits left by their removal. It is not clear whether the huts were used to accommodate military personnel, or forestry workers; they might have had a variety of uses. They are visible situated along several forest rides; it is possible that further huts existed, but are not visible on the aerial photographs due to tree cover. All of the huts appear to have been removed at the end of the war, but it is possible that earthworks or structural elements relating to them, or to associated activity, still survive (although they may have become confused with later features, such as roadside drainage ditches). The groups of huts, which are rather disparate and spread across a wide area, have been mapped by extent; in some cases the accuracy of the mapping may be reduced due to the limitations of the available sources. The site extends only a small way into Norfolk (but military activity to the southwest has been recorded as NHER 61543); most of the site lies within Santon Downham parish in Suffolk, where it is recorded as SHER STN 165.
S. Tremlett (Norfolk Historic Environment Service), 7 December 2017.