NHER 27679 (Monument record) - Site of World War Two air raid shelters

September 2005. Norfolk NMP.
Four World War Two air raid shelters are visible as earth covered structures on aerial photographs (S1 to 3), centred around TG 5295 0623. They lay within the grounds of what is now Greenacre First and Middle Schools and were presumably constructed for the use of its staff and pupils, although they may also have acted as public shelters. The two southernmost shelters are first visible on aerial photographs taken in 1941 (S1), but disturbed ground visible in this area on aerial photographs taken in 1940 (S4) suggests they could have been constructed by this earlier date. The two northern shelters were certainly built by 1944 (see (S2) for example) and may just be visible as areas of disturbance on the 1941 aerial photographs (S1). Each shelter consisted of an elongated earthwork mound which presumably covered a semi sunken structure. The two smaller shelters to the north of the school had a single entrance, while those to the south had an entrance at each end. All of the entrances appear to have been revetted. Small square structures on the roof of some of the shelters are probably ventilation shafts. The mound of the southwestern shelter is cut through by a path, located towards its western end; the two sections were presumably joined below ground level. There is no trace of the shelters on more recent aerial photographs and they were presumably levelled after the end of the war.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 28 September 2005.