NHER 38873 (Monument record) - World War Two defences

October 2004. Norfolk NMP.
A group of World War Two defences located at the western end of Cromer Esplanade (S1 to S3). These defences include a 1940 type 22 pillbox, destroyed by 1941 and replaced by a series of anti-tank cubes. The site is centred on TG 2130 4248. The whole of the Cromer cliffs and promenade was protected by pillboxes and gun emplacements during the Second World War, including a further type 22 pillboxes and Alan Williams turret on the promenade bastion to the immediate east (NHER 32572).

A type 22 pillbox is visible on oblique aerial photographs from 1940 (S1). This structure was approximately located at TG 2129 4247, although the aerial photograph could not be rectified to produce an accurate location. The Esplanade has since been extended to the west, although in the 1940’s this point marked the end of the promenade surface. This structure is not visible on the 1941 aerial photographs, suggesting that it has been demolished or destroyed inbetween October 1940 and August 1941 (S2 and S3). In front of this on the beach in 1941 are several small concrete components. These are likely to be fragments of the former pillbox. To the immediate west of this, also on the beach, are a number of narrow rectangular structures or structural components. These may also be fragments of the pillbox or other associated beach defences. Other features were visible within the beach and immediate intertidal zone on these aerial photographs although the majority of these were not mapped as they were more likely to be marine debris rather than fragments of structural and military remains. On the promenade itself in 1941 a set of six anti tank cubes have been positioned blocking off the western end at TG 2132 4247, each measuring approximately 1m square.
S. Massey (NMP), 15 October 2004.