NHER 27582 (Monument record) - World War Two bomb craters

August 2005. Norfolk NMP.
Five World War Two bomb craters are visible as earthworks and cropmarks on aerial photographs (S1 to S3), in a line from approximately TG 5144 0793 to TG 5100 0742. They are first visible on photographs taken in March 1944 (S1 to S2), by which time some of the craters had been levelled and are visible as cropmarks or soilmarks, while others are still visible as fresh earthworks. The fact that the levelled craters are surrounded by a ‘halo’ of upcast debris indicates that they were the result of bombing rather than being modern ponds. The variation in their appearance suggests that the craters were not the product of a single raid but rather the result of cumulative attacks. The intended target for the bombs might have been Great Yarmouth, or perhaps the light anti aircraft battery on Cobholm Island playing field (NHER 27583), the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway (NHER 13581) approximately 110m to the east, or Breydon Bridge 170m to the northeast. Alternatively they might have been jettisoned by enemy aircraft, more or less at random, prior to them making their return flights across the North Sea. More recent aerial photographs, for example (S4 and S5), indicate that the craters appear to have been levelled after the war, although they could still survive as shallow depressions.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 24 August 2005.