NHER 32655 (Monument record) - Site of World War Two light anti aircraft tower and other defences on Fishermans Wharf, Gorleston on Sea

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Summary

A group of World War Two defences, comprising a tower for a light anti aircraft gun, a spigot mortar emplacement and a possible air raid shelter, are visible as extant structures and earthworks on aerial photographs. The tower is one of a number of such structures located at various points around Great Yarmouth: compare, for example, the example located on the seafront 515m to the east, which has been recorded as part of NHER 27645. The tower was demolished in the post-war period and there is no evidence on recent aerial photographs that any trace of the defences now survives at the site.

Protected Status/Designation

None recorded

Location

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

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Full Description

Concrete tower for Bofors guns, approximately 6.1m (20 feet) high.
Demolished.
See (S1) and detailed map in file.
D. Gurney (NLA) October 1996.

February 2006. Norfolk NMP.
NMP mapping has led to the alteration of the central grid reference of the site from TG 5263 0538 to TG 5265 0536.

The light anti aircraft tower described above is visible as an extant structure on aerial photographs (S2)-(S5), at TG 5264 0538. The earliest consulted aerial photographs on which it is visible were taken in 1944, e.g. (S2). A small structure visible on its roof at this date was probably the mounting for the gun. To the south of the tower (at TG 5265 0534), two rectangular slots or pits in a probable mound or bank (or possibly sandbags or vegetation) may represent an air raid shelter. This perhaps corresponds with an L-shaped structure or mound visible on aerial photographs taken in 1941 (S6). Further to the south (at TG 5265 0532), a spigot mortar emplacement is visible. No part of the site has been recognised on recent aerial photographs of the area (S7), and it has probably been destroyed.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 15 February 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> SNF57711 Vertical Aerial Photograph: RAF. 1944. RAF 106G/LA/17 3030-1 28-MAY-1944 (NMR).
<S3> SNF57712 Vertical Aerial Photograph: RAF. 1945. RAF 106G/UK/726 5169-70 26-AUG-1945 (NMR).
<S4> SNF61260 Oblique Aerial Photograph: RAF. 1948. NMR TG 5205/9 (RAF 30016 CPE/UK/2522 PFFO-0222) 23-MAR-1948.
<S5> SNF61261 Oblique Aerial Photograph: RAF. 1948. NMR TG 5205/14 (RAF 30016 CPE/UK/2522 SFFO-0222) 23-MAR-1948.
<S6> SNF57694 Vertical Aerial Photograph: RAF. 1941. RAF 268F/BR172 (VA) 19-20 10-FEB-1941 (NMR).
<S7> SNF57709 Vertical Aerial Photograph: Environment Agency. 2002. EA 043 AF/02C/338 6030-1 19-JUL-2002 (EA).