NHER 43345 (Monument record) - Site of World War Two spigot mortar emplacements

March 2006. Norfolk NMP.
Two World War Two spigot mortar emplacements and a possible weapons pit are visible on 1945 aerial photographs (S1). These defences were centred on TF 7296 3720. Two spigot mortar emplacements were present on a former field boundary. One of these was located at the above grid reference, with the second lying 20m to its southwest. The entrances into these two emplacements faced to the north and south respectively, perhaps indicating that they were intended to face a possible threat in opposite directions. The emplacements were positioned on a north facing slope overlooking the railway line 250m to their north. They also lay 150m to the north of the Sedgeford to Docking road. Enemy tanks and other vehicles using either of these lines of communication would have been well within the 365m range of the spigot mortar. In the corner of the field, 22m to the northeast of the eastern spigot mortar emplacement, was a rectangular pit measuring approximately 1.5m by 4m. It is likely that this was a weapons pit, supporting the two spigot mortar emplacements. All three of these defensive positions and the field boundary on which they were situated had been removed by June 1946 (S2).
J. Albone (NMP), 06 March 2006.