NHER 38978 (Monument record) - Site of World War Two gun emplacement and trench system

November 2004. Norfolk NMP.
A World War Two gun emplacement and trench system is visible on the cliffs at Sidestrand on aerial photographs (S1-2). The site is centred on TG 2558 4039 and is located to the immediate north of the site of a World War Two searchlight battery (NHER 38967), although it is not clear whether they were contemporary defences. Other cliff top defences are located to the east (NHER 35810, 38972, 38979).

At TG 2557 4037 is a circular gun emplacement, 3m in diameter and with a concrete gun pit, with an entrance to the west. To the north of this is a zigzag slit trench system, running from TG 2560 4039 to TG 2558 4040. The terminals and projecting points appears to have been revetted with concrete sections or possibly sandbags or earthen embankment in places. The concrete components project slightly above the profile of the trench, and may be related to firing positions. These defences are to the immediate north of the site of the searchlight battery. The battery is visible in October 1940 (S4), at which point this site has not been constructed. By August 1941 the battery has been dismantled and no sign of its structures no longer exists (S1) and the gun emplacement and trench system have been constructed nearer to the cliff top, replacing the guns of the battery.
S. Massey (NMP), 23 November 2004.