NHER 27527 (Monument record) - Site of World War Two military buildings and bomb craters

July 2005. Norfolk NMP.
World War Two military buildings are present around a house on contemporary and later aerial photographs (S1 to S2). Two possible bomb craters of an earlier World War Two date are visible at the site as cropmarks (S3). These remains were centred on TG 5218 1275.

Military activity appears to have only taken place at the site in the final stage of World War Two. A large house is present at TG 5216 1274 in August 1940 and appears to have sat within a paved area (S3). A single outbuilding was located TG 52195 12725. No military buildings were present at the site by September 1944 but the apparently overgrown condition of the gardens may indicate that the house was unoccupied at that time (S4). Several new buildings, including a Nissen hut had been constructed at the site by August 1945 (S1). The Nissen hut is of a standard 11m by 4.9m (36 feet by 16 feet) size and was located to the north of the house at TG 5215 1277. It was attached to a 7.5m by 4m rectangular building with a pitched roof. Another rectangular pitched roofed building, measuring 8.6m by 5.4m, was located on the paved area in front of the house at TG 52165 12755. A further two rectangular buildings with pitched roofs, measuring 10.8m by 5.5m and 4.5m by 3m, were located at TG 5218 1272 and TG 52155 12730. Two other rectangular structures were located at TG 5215 1273 and TG 5217 1278.

Irregular areas of disturbed ground were present in the field adjacent to the military buildings at TG 5224 1278. These included several roughly square and rectangular areas possibly indicating that structures had recently been removed from the site. The site appears to be surrounded on two sides by barbed wire. A possible slit trench was located along the hedge on the north side of the site.

The military function of this site is uncertain. However, as it was constructed after 11 September 1944 it is possible that it was associated with the ‘DIVER strip’. This was a line of anti aircraft batteries positioned between the Thames Estuary and Hemsby in late September 1944 to counter the threat of V1 flying bombs. The area of disturbed ground at the site does not suggest that anti aircraft guns were located at the site. However, an existing heavy anti aircraft gun batteries at West Caister (NHER 27272) did serve as part of the DIVER strip. It is possible that this site served an ancillary function, possibly in a radio or radar capacity. The whole site, including the house, had been cleared and replaced by a housing estate by 1978 (S5).
Two possible World War Two bomb craters are visible as cropmarks on the eastern part of the site in August 1944 (S6). These craters, which have a 3.5m diameter, were located at TG 52235 12785 and TG 52230 12735 but were not visible on aerial photographs dating to February 1941 (S7) or earlier. Other possible backfilled bomb craters are also visible as cropmarks in 1944 (NHER 27484, 27498 and 27499).
J. Albone (NMP), 29 July 2005.