NHER 42243 (Monument record) - Site of World War Two air raid shelters and a military hut

December 2005. Norfolk NMP.
A group of World War Two air raid shelters and a military hut, possibly a nissen, are visible on aerial photographs from 1945, both in the back gardens of properties and out in the street, on Westbrooke Avenue and Cherry Road (S1). The site is centred on TG 5179 0473. There are at least twelve shelters within close proximity. This residential area backs immediately on to the location of the anti aircraft battery (NHER 32667) to the south. It could be speculated that these properties have been commandeered by the military. The presence of the nissen type hut may also suggest this. Another explanation of the high density of shelters when compared with the surroundings areas is that the street has been allocated more money/materials for shelter construction due to the proximity of the battery and therefore the possible increased threat of attack. The function of the military hut is not known, it is possible that it is an outlier component of the battery.

The shelters, probably all Andersons or similar, are visible as an extant earthen covered, oblong and rectangular mounds, ranging from 1.5m by 2m to 3m by 4m. The shelters were located in the gardens of numbers 1, 3, 7, 11 to 14, 18 and 19 Westbrooke Avenue. A shelter in the back garden of 28 Cherry Road has also been included within this group. It is not immediately clear from the aerial photographs whether any of these structures still survive, although this seems unlikely in most cases. The possible nissen hut is located at TG 5181 0478 and at TG 5180 0472 a rectangular tank, 2m by 1.5m, appears to have been sunk into the ground. This may also relate to a shelter of some sort.
S. Massey (NMP), 19 December 2005.