NHER 42522 (Monument record) - A World War Two pillbox and post war radio or radar site on Lowestoft Road, Gorleston-on-Sea

SITE WAS PREVIOUSLY RECORDED UNDER NHER 11788 Context 3.

October 1995. Norfolk Defensive Structures Survey No. DRS-02. Lowestoft Road.
World War Two type 24 pillbox, in commanding position on top of hill.
Demolished approximately 1968.
See record form (S1) in file.
J. Allen (NLA), 8 August 2006.

January 1998. Desk-based Assessment.
See report (S6) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 11 March 2015.

February 2006. Norfolk NMP.
A World War Two type 22 pillbox is visible on aerial photographs on Lowestoft Road, Gorleston-on-Sea (S2)-(S4). This pillbox forms part of the perimeter defences to the heavy anti-aircraft battery to the immediate east (NHER 32668). It would have also been part of the general invasion defences that surround Great Yarmouth and the Lowestoft Road represents one of the main routes south from Great Yarmouth. The structure is centred on TG 5218 0211 and is a hexagonal pillbox with a blast wall protected entrance to the north. The pillbox is still visible in 1965 (S4), but it is no longer visible on the aerial photographs from 1978 (S5). This evidence fits with the suggested date of demolition in around 1968 (S1).

In 1952-3 a possible post-war radio communications or radar site gets built next to the pillbox (S4). An aerial and some associated structures are visible in the 1950s. This is site C in the aerial photograph mapping conducted as part of South Gorleston Development Area desktop assessment, see NHER 11788 (S6). This was not mapped by the NMP as it is post-war in date. The buildings are still present by in 1965, however the aerial component has been removed (S5). The whole site has been dismantled by 1978 (S3).
S. Massey (NMP), 10 February 2006.