NHER 42530 (Monument record) - A World War Two tank trap on the old Gorleston railway line, east of Valley Farm

Previously HNER 11788, context 22.

October 1995. Norfolk Defensive Structures Survey No. RDS-86. 250m due east of Valley Farm.
Large World War Two tank traps with rolled steel joists in top on west side of old railway line. Line closed 1971.
N.B. Have yet to get correct location but all the fields between the railway line and Lound waterworks were opened up with anti-tank ditches as were roads at Bunkers Hill blocked off with tank traps.
See record form (S1) in file.
J. Allen (NLA), 8 August 2006.

February 2006. Norfolk NMP.
A World War Two tank trap blocking the railway tracks, to east of Valley Farm, Hopton-on-Sea, is visible on aerial photographs (S2-S3). The site is centred on TG 5272 0102 and consists of four large anti-tank cubes arranged on the top and sides of the railway cuttings, plus the remains of two possible horizontal bars set across the tracks. One of these large anti-tank cubes survives and has been recorded by the Norfolk Defensive Structures Survey (S1). This tank trap fills the gap in the anti-tank ditch which runs continues either side of the railway line, forming a barrier from the coast to Hopton Hall, see NHER 42262 for details of the ditch and other associated defences.

The anti-tank cubes are 2m across and are placed at an angle to the axis of the railway track. Two parallel white lines are visible either side of the cubes across the railway track (S2). In 1945 these appear to be strips of cleared or disturbed ground under the tracks (S3). This is probably the remains of two horizontal bars that had previously been erected across the tracks.
S. Massey (NMP), 15 February 2006.