NHER 38615 (Monument record) - Site of World War Two coastal defences

April 2004, Norfolk NMP
An area of World War Two coastal defences is visible along the coast at Upper Sheringham on aerial photographs (S1-S2). The site consists of a group of slit trenches, pits, barbed wire defences and a possible structure or gun emplacement. These structures form part of an area of coastal defences and military training sites all along the Golf links at Sheringham (NHER 21297, NHER 32511 & NHER 38622).
The military structures at this location cannot clearly be seen on any of the available aerial photographs, therefore it is possible that not all features were recognised or mapped. However it is felt that the main components of the site were identified.
The site was placed at the intersection of three banked post medieval field boundaries and it appears that parts of these banks were incorporated into the earliest phases of the site. These boundaries then gradually get removed. Centred on TG 1381 4350 are a group of four zigzag plan slit trenches, these are all constructed between 1940 to 1941 (S1-S2). A roughly rectangular structure appears to have been constructed between two of these trenches at TG 1383 4350, measuring 5m by 4m. This structure cannot be seen in detail, although it is possible that it is of concrete construction and may be a gun emplacement or similar structure. A line of three pits or possible craters is also visible. By 1941 the site is almost completely enclosed by a barbed wire defence.
S. Massey (NMP) 28 April 2004.

May-November 2004. Norfolk Rapid Coastal Zone Archaeological Survey.
Related material found during Inter-tidal survey (Environmental Zone 13) recorded under NHER 41577.
See assessment report (S3) for further details.
J. Allen (NLA), 13 April 2005.