NHER 27374 (Monument record) - World War Two air raid shelter

May 2005. Norfolk NMP.
A World War Two air raid shelter is visible as an extant earth covered structure on aerial photographs (S1), centred at TG 5279 0652. It lay in what appears originally to have been part of the Royal Naval Hospital (NHER 4340) but at the time was St James's School. The shelter was presumably provided for the pupils and staff of the school. Since the end of the war the site has been levelled and is now occupied by modern residential housing and surfaced parking areas.

The main shelter is roughly square in shape. Its height on the photographs suggests that it was a surface shelter. The outline of the different elements of the structure are clearly visible under their covering of earth or other material. Entrances are clearly visible on its north and west sides. Holes and concrete structures towards its east side may mark the position of further entrances, ventilation shafts and/or emergency exits. A subsidiary shelter is visible as an embanked concrete building immediately to the south. It is not known whether the two were interconnected.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 20 May 2005.