NHER 37598 (Monument record) - World War Two defensive site

Spigot mortar base.
In grass verge and only just above ground level.
D. Gurney (NLA), 7 November 2002.

March 2005. Norfolk NMP.
NMP mapping has led to the alteration of the central grid reference of the site from TG 51458 15444 to TG 5145 1543.

The spigot mortar base described above is part of a World War Two spigot mortar emplacement, visible as an earthwork surrounding a concrete 'thimble' at TG 5146 1543 on aerial photographs (S1-2). It forms part of a larger (although still small) defensive site, comprising a subdivided embanked enclosure and a pit with conjoined trench, also visible as earthworks on wartime aerial photographs (S1, S3). The location of the site suggests that it was designed to inhibit an attack from the beach or along Beach Road/Rottenstone Lane to its north and east. Earlier wartime aerial photographs indicate that the embanked enclosure and pit/trench were constructed between 17 December 1940 and 10 February 1941. The spigot mortar emplacement appears to have been added by May 1944 (S4). Later aerial photographs show that the site was levelled by July 1946, although, as described above, the thimble of the spigot mortar was still visible in 2002.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 17 March 2005.

September 2012.
J. & C. Gaskin visited the site and photographed the extant Spigot Mortar pedestal (17/09/2012).
C. Kolonko (HES), 19 September 2012.