NHER 32654 (Monument record) - World War Two pillbox east of Thamesfield Way, Southtown

The Norfolk Heritage Explorer is a filtered version of the Norfolk HER intended for casual research. Please contact us to consult the full record.

Summary

A World War Two Type 24 pillbox still survived in 2001 on land to the east of Thamesfield Way, Southtown. It has been visited on the ground and surveyed, and is also visible as a structure on aerial photographs taken from 1944 onwards. On the earliest of these it was camouflaged as a shed. It was part of a cluster of pillboxes and other World War Two defences identified in this area, including further pillboxes and a spigot mortar emplacement to its southwest and southeast (NHER 15989 and 32652 respectively). All these anti invasion defences were presumably sited to protect Great Yarmouth in the event of an attack on its landward side, although the primary function of this pillbox, which faces northeast towards the town, may have been to protect the railway line (NHER 13574) which once ran 110m to its west. The current condition of the pillbox is not known.

Protected Status/Designation

None recorded

Location

Map sheet	TG50NW
Civil Parish	GREAT YARMOUTH, GREAT YARMOUTH, NORFOLK

Map

Find a placename, postcode or grid reference

Map layers

Base layers

Info

Record list

Tools

Full Description

Type 24 pill box.
See (S1) and (S2) in file.
This may well be the same as NHER 15989.
D. Gurney (NLA) October 1996.

June 2002. Building Survey.
Pillbox surveyed and recorded by NAU.
See report (S3) for further details. This survey is also noted in (S7).
J. Allen (NLA), 12 July 2002. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 8 April 2015.

March 2006. Norfolk NMP.
NMP mapping has led to the alteration of the central grid reference of the site from TG 5180 0676 to TG 5178 0675.

The World War Two Type 24 pillbox described above is visible as an extant building on aerial photographs (S4)-(S6). The earliest consulted aerial photographs on which the pillbox is visible were taken in 1944, e.g. (S4)-(S5). At this time, the pillbox was covered with a superstructure, camouflaging it as a shed, but is later visible free of its disguise (see (S6)). It is also depicted as a structure by modern Ordnance Survey 1:2500 mapping. It is clear from the consulted aerial photographs that, contrary to the suggestion given above, this pillbox and the pillbox recorded as NHER 15989 were two separate structures located 85m apart.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 7 March 2006.

Associated Sources (8)

--- SNF8804 Secondary File: Secondary File.
<S1> SNF57927 Recording Form: [various]. Norfolk Defensive Structures Survey Recording Form. Norfolk Defensive Structures Survey.
<S2> SNF59611 Photograph: Smith, R.. 1995. RDS 01.
<S3> SNF51053 Unpublished Contractor Report: Hobbs, B. P. 2002. Report on the structural survey of two pillboxes near Thamesfield Way, Pasteur Road, Great Yarmouth. Norfolk Archaeological Unit. 718.
<S4> SNF61659 Vertical Aerial Photograph: RAF. 1944. RAF HLA/698 4062-3 08-APR-1944 (NMR).
<S5> SNF61230 Vertical Aerial Photograph: RAF. 1944. RAF 106G/LA/21 4010-1 04-JUL-1944 (NMR).
<S6> SNF61652 Vertical Aerial Photograph: RAF. 1947. RAF CPE/UK/2170 5150-1 26-JUN-1947 (NMR).
<S7> SNF82149 Article in Serial: Gurney, D. and Penn, K. (eds). 2003. Excavations and Surveys in Norfolk, 2002. Norfolk Archaeology. Vol XLIV Pt II pp 368-384. p 372.