NHER 32631 (Monument record) - Demolished World War Two pillbox

Common ruined pillbox 100m to northwest of battery halfway down cliff face. Possibly type 22.
Information from [1]. See record form (S1) in file and (S2).
D. Walker (NLA), August 1996.

September 2004. Norfolk NMP.
Examination of World War Two and later aerial photographs did not reveal a pillbox or any other structures on the cliff top at this location. The record form in the secondary file (S1) states that the remains are in a gully halfway down the cliff. A backfilled gully is visible as a cropmark on aerial photographs from 1965 onwards (S3 to S4), but reaches the cliff 40m further to the northwest. This was probably an access ramp cut during the construction of groynes on the beach, which also first appear on 1965 aerial photographs. It is likely that the remains of this demolished pillbox were incorporated into the backfill of the access ramp gully. The pillbox was probably originally located at or around the coastal gun battery site (NHER 18472).
J. Albone (NMP), 9 September 2004.

May to November 2004. Norfolk Rapid Coastal Survey. Context 530.
A scatter of World War Two concrete was recorded loose in a cliff slump between TG 37401 31902 and TG 37411 31892.
The concrete scatter recorded in 2004 may have been the remains of the pillbox recorded by [1] - if so, the location given by [1] was approximate and the remains of the pillbox were actually located about 50m to the northwest. Alternatively, the 2004 scatter could be another grouping of similar material. Either interpretation fits well with idea that World War Two building material was used to fill an access ramp/gully (with the concrete originally buried within the gully backfill, and it eroding out of the cliff face when observed by [1] and in 2004). The location of the scatter recorded in 2004 matches the location of the access ramp/gully noted by NMP (S4).
See assessment report (S5) for further details.
The associated archive has been deposited with the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2017.421).
D. Robertson (NLA), 20 February 2006. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 21 July 2019.