NHER 32417 (Monument record) - Recorded site of 'Burnham Sutton' Second World War bombing decoy

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Summary

A Second World War ‘Q’ type bombing decoy, one of four decoy sites for Bircham Newton airfield, is recorded at this location. In use by August 1942, no confirmed remains of the site could be identified on aerial photographs taken from 1945 onwards. Undated rectilinear cropmarks recorded in the adjacent field to the northeast (NHER 11837) could perhaps relate to this decoy site.

Protected Status/Designation

  • None recorded

Location

Map sheet TF83NW
Civil Parish NORTH CREAKE, WEST NORFOLK, NORFOLK

Map

World War Two RAF airfield decoy, type Q, ?called 'Burnham Sutton'.
Are cropmarks NHER 11837 related?
D. Gurney (NLA), 28 January 1997.

October 2025. Northwest Norfolk Aerial Investigation and Mapping (AI&M) Project.
The Second World War ‘Q’ type bombing decoy described above was not identified on the consulted aerial sources, the earliest of which dated from 1945 (S2). The Historic England Research Record for the site (S3) records a covered control building with blast walls surviving in good condition, being visible on an aerial photograph taken in 1974 (of which S4 is the Norfolk Air Photo Library copy). This appears to be a misinterpretation of what is probably a large group of straw bales in the corner of the field (at TF 8414 3921), which was not present in 1945 (S2). As suggested above, undated rectilinear cropmarks recorded in the adjacent field to the northeast (NHER 11837) could perhaps relate to the decoy site.
S. Tremlett (Norfolk Historic Environment Service), 20 October 2025.

  • <S1> Serial: Dobinson, C.S.. 1996. Twentieth Century Fortifications in England.. Vol III, p 92.
  • <S2> Vertical Aerial Photograph: Various. Various. Vertical Aerial Photography from the Historic England Archive. RAF/106G/UK/369 RP 3176-3177 08-JUN-1945.
  • <S3> Digital Dataset: Historic England. Historic England Research Record (formerly National Record for the Historic Environment; formerly National Monument Record). UNIQUE IDENTIFIER: 1464423, TF 83 NW 36.
  • <S4> Oblique Aerial Photograph: Various. ? - 2020. Norfolk Air Photo Library: Oblique Collection. TF8439/E 20-JUN-1974 (NLA 4/ABE9).

Object Types (0)

Related NHER Records (0)

Record last edited

Oct 20 2025 3:15PM

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