NHER 38953 (Monument record) - Site of World War Two coastal defences

November 2004. Norfolk NMP.
A World War Two coastal defence site is visible as structures and earthworks on aerial photographs (S1-2), centred at TG 2856 3865. In 1940 a pillbox, probably with a blast wall, is visible at TG 2855 3865, at a point where a track shown on historic maps (S3) meets an unmapped track leading down and across the cliff face. The pillbox has been mapped as circular but is likely to have been polygonal in plan. There is another structure, possibly an emplacement, located on this track (at TG 2853 3865), which is joined by a second structure in 1942 (S1). To the east, at TG 2858 3866, at least two more small structures and a slit trench are visible, again on aerial photographs taken in 1940 (S2); these may have been lost to coastal erosion by 1942. To the southwest (at TG 2852 3864) a possible blast wall can be seen on both sets of aerial photographs. Its position corresponds with a building depicted on historic maps (S3) but its relatively 'shiny' appearance suggests that it is a World War Two military feature.
It should be noted that the consulted aerial photographs are not particularly clear and, in the case of the 1940 oblique aerial photographs (S2), are too oblique to be easily rectifiable. The form and location of the different elements of the site are therefore approximate. It is also possible that the site of a coastal searchlight, recorded in a gazetteer (S4) at TG 2835 3874, could equate to this site. In addition, a possible structure (not mapped) which is visible on the beach at approximately TG 2851 3880 on aerial photographs taken in 1952 (S5) could have fallen from this site. A structure of some kind is still visible at this approximate location on photographs taken in 1958 (S6).
(S1-6)
S. Tremlett (NMP), 3 November 2004.