NHER 43569 (Monument record) - Site of possible World War Two air raid shelters on land adjacent to 101-105 St Nicholas Road

April 2006. Norfolk NMP.
Possible World War Two air raid shelters are visible as earthworks and structures on aerial photographs (S1)-(S2), centred at TG 5248 0784. They were located in a yard, surrounded by what appear to have been light industrial buildings, perhaps associated with the brewery that occupied this land in the post-war period (S3). This location together with their size, which is larger than most of the private shelters mapped elsewhere at Great Yarmouth, suggests that they could have been industrial shelters. At the same time, they might instead (or in addition) have been used by local residents. It should be noted that neither of the shelters is particularly clear on the consulted aerial photographs, and it is possible one or both is instead a structure and/or pile of material associated with the industrial use of the site.

The eastern shelter is visible as a roughly squarish mound, partially covered or obscured by vegetation, which presumably overlay some kind of structure. Its north side has a very white appearance and may have been built of sandbags. The western shelter is a more complex arrangement of structures and earthworks. A mound covers what may have been one or more elongated structures, aligned east to west. It is revetted by some kind of structure on its north side. A further structure (or structures) at its west end may mark an entrance. Recent aerial photographs of the site, for example (S4), demonstrate that the shelters have been levelled and perhaps partially built over. It is possible, however, that parts of the site may still survive below ground; some of the underground structures recorded at the site on architectural plans drawn in 1996 (S5) could in fact have been part of the shelters rather than the brewery workshops.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 21 April 2006.