NHER 15994 (Monument record) - World War Two pillbox

Pillbox; concrete, octagonal.
Now upside down on beach, fallen from cliff.
Visited by E. Rose (NAU), 2 April 1980.

Photograph in (S1).

See (S2) in file, who adds: Fairly common 1940 type 22A pillbox in a rare position upside down on beach. Foundation raft clearly shown.
D. Walker (NLA), August 1996.

September 2004. Norfolk NMP.
A World War Two type 22 pillbox is visible on aerial photographs ((S3) to (S7)). The grid reference previously given for this pillbox (TG 3826 3117) is wrong and did not reflect either its original or present position. The new grid reference, for the original position of the pillbox on the cliff top, is TG 3812 3126. This pillbox was not shown on aerial photographs dating to September 1940 (S8) but had been constructed by July 1941 (S2). Oblique aerial photographs from August 1941 clearly show that it had been camouflaged with a low pitched roof (S4). It was still in position on the cliff top in September 1965 (S5) but had fallen to the beach by April 1968 (S6). The present location on the beach of the inverted pillbox is 11m northeast of its original cliff top position (S7).
J. Albone (NMP), 8 September 2004.

May-November 2004. Norfolk Rapid Coastal Zone Archaeological Survey.
Inter-tidal survey (Environmental Zone 19), Context 482:
A type 22 pillbox was monitored. It was upside down on the beach at TG 38134 31295, between the modern breakwater and the cliff.
See assessment report (S9) for further details.
The associated archive has been deposited with the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2017.421).
J. Allen (NLA), 26 April 2005. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 20 July 2019.

November 2020. Field Observation.
The upside down pillbox is no longer visible on Happisburgh beach.
This observation is confirmed by (S10), which shows the pillbox was visible in winter 2019 but almost competely buried by winter 2020 due to redeposited material added as part of the wider beach nourishment taking place in the area.
E. McDonald (HES), 8 March 2021.