NHER 49672 (Monument record) - World War Two military site outside Raveningham Park

July 2007. Norfolk NMP.
The World War Two military site described below was previously recorded as part of NHER 17499.

A World War Two military site is visible as a collection of structures, buildings, earthworks and areas of scarred ground on aerial photographs (S1)-(S4), centred at TM 3953 9699. By October 1945, when the earliest consulted aerial photographs were taken (S1), it comprised a variety of huts and similar structures arranged along several concrete roads or tracks (their extent has been mapped). The site almost certainly housed one or more military installations, as well as providing accommodation. The cluster of huts, several camouflaged with paint (see (S3)), on the eastern side of the site has the appearance of an accommodation site, but there is little evidence to suggest what the defensive or tactical purpose of the site might have been. The huts along the northern and southern sides of the site seem likely to have had an operational role, as does a small fenced enclosure visible at TM 3948 9705. The latter contained a single hut or building at its northwest corner; disturbed ground, and later a concrete base, visible at its southeast corner may indicate the location of a second hut or structure, perhaps originally buried or camouflaged. Local information suggests there may have been a searchlight battery here, but the circular features visible on (S1) and suggested as the remains of such a site (see NHER 17499) are not convincing and could equally relate to the livestock visible in the field; consequently they have not been mapped, but are visible at around TM 3944 9699. Other World War Two sites in the area, namely three spigot mortar emplacements (NHER 34346-8) and a Type 22 pillbox (NHER 17499) presumably acted as outlying defences for the site.
Later aerial photographs indicate that some elements may have survived for a considerable period after the war (see (S3) for example), but on the most recent aerial photographs consulted (S4) only the remains of a track and a hut base are visible.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 17 July 2007.

23 May 2020. Personal Communication[1].
A member of the public has reported that this area was used for temporary housing following the war. It was used as housing from at least 1949 to 1963 and was known locally as "The Camp". Local residents did believe that the site was a searchlight or AA battery.
A portion of the 82nd Searchlight Regiment was stationed at Raveningham, possibly on or close to this site, from early 1944 to the end of September 1944. Referenced summaries on Wikipedia (S5) note the following:
Members of the 82nd Searchlight Regiment moved to RAF Coltishall on 4 June 1943, where they maintained five troops to defend the east coast against the Luftwaffe. The regiment was broken up by early 1944 as preparations were being made for the Allied invasion of Normandy, but a portion of the 82nd Searchlight Regiment moved their RHQ to 'Orchards' in Raveningham. The Raveningham headquarters was closed down around 22 September 1944 when the 82nd Searchlight Regiment moved to the Royal Hotem in Yarmouth to oversee creation of a belt of defences known as the 'Diver Fringe' to counter expected air attacks on the east coast.
H. Hamilton (HES), 26 May 2020.