NHER 38621 (Monument record) - World War Two military training site

June 2004, Norfolk NMP.
The earthworks of a military training site are visible on aerial photographs (S1-2). These include the remains of a cluster of earthwork gun emplacements centred at TG 2173 3857. The fresh earthworks of numerous small pits and a perimeter track are visible but have not been mapped. Distinct clusters and alignments of pits have been mapped; these occur close to the perimeter track. Sections of zigzag and sinuous slit or practice trenches can be seen predominantly on the western side of the site. Four earthwork gun emplacements lie in the south-western corner of the site. They are situated on the south side of an access track which is still in use today and leads from the former heath to Cromer Road.

A possible ring barrow (NHER 38671) and two areas of probable iron ore extraction (NHER 38670 and 38672) which lie within the limits of the site could also be associated with the military activity. In all these cases, however, the earthworks have the appearance of being older than the relatively fresh World War Two features which surround them. While it is possible that they date to the early years of the war or even to World War One, morphologically they are not characteristic of military activity and other interpretations are preferred. While two of the gun emplacements in the south-west corner of the site may have survived as earthworks under woodland, later aerial photographs indicate that since 1946 most of the site has been levelled by ploughing.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 30 June 2004.