NHER 43582 (Monument record) - Site of World War Two air raid shelter at Clem-Ellen Cottages, Gorleston-on-Sea

April 2006. Norfolk NMP.
A possible air raid shelter dating to World War Two is visible as an earthwork, probably an earth and vegetation-covered structure, on aerial photographs (S1), centred at TG 5250 0531. It lay in what may have been a private field or garden, on open land adjacent to 13 Burnt Lane (the land is now occupied by Clem-Ellen Cottages). This location, together with its small size, suggests that it was a private shelter, intended for the use of a particular household (presumably those living at Number 13). The earthwork mound appears to have covered a small structure, probably with a curved profile, which was either semi-sunken or at surface level. It may have been an Anderson shelter, or similar proprietary design. It is notable, however, that it was slightly larger than most of the other small shelters mapped in the vicinity (for example NHER 43581 30m to the south). Alternatively, the structure may simply have been a shed or other outbuilding, rather than an air raid shelter. A building of this type is visible immediately to its northeast. Recent aerial photographs of the area, for example (S2), and modern Ordnance Survey maps demonstrate that the site has since been built over.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 25 April 2006.