NHER 50740 (Monument record) - Domestic site for World War Two airfield, within Rackheath Park

December 2007. Norfolk NMP.
The domestic site for the World War Two airfield at Rackheath (NHER 8170) is visible as clusters of huts and others structures on aerial photographs (S1)-(S9), with the main part of the site centred at TG 2754 1278. Apparently it could accommodate 2900 personnel (NMR TG 21 SE 25). The clusters of huts (mapped by the NMP as ‘Extent of Area’), together with other evidence of activity (tracks, disturbed ground, etc.), are visible across much of Rackheath Park (NHER 30518). Some of the areas of hutting appear to have been fenced, while other parts of the park are under cultivation, so by the end of the war at least, the park was not dedicated entirely to military use. An area of probable military training activity at the northern end of the park (NHER 50741) may be associated with the airfield or could be unrelated. A number of spigot mortar emplacements are visible, e.g. around TG 2791 1320, providing ground defence. Some kind or mast or aerial is visible at TG 2783 1331. A sewage works associated with the site, but situated some 900m to its northwest, is still in use, albeit in a substantially modified form. More recent aerial photographs of the site, e.g. (S10)-(S11), clearly indicate that substantial remnants still survive.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 6 December 2007.

November 2008. Norfolk NMP.
A probable water tower for the Rackheath airfield domestic site was visible on aerial photographs (S12)-(S13) at TG 2749 1222, with a small concrete structure beside it.
E. Bales (NMP), 7 November 2008.

June 2010. Desk-based Assessment.
Assessment of the condition of parcel of land off Newman Road (update of work initially completed in 2002).
Map regression on the site and aerial photographs show how the wooded area off Newman Road has changed over time. The Rackheath airfield was in use between 1945 and closed in 1946. The map and aerial photograph sources indicate that the now wooded area off Newman Road was part of the residential area that may have contained above ground bomb shelters. The majority of the residential buildings were Nissen and Seco huts.
See report (S14) for further details.
S. Howard (NLA), 11 October 2010.

November 2010.
It has been said that Rackheath Park was the base for a secret underground resistance cell or 'Auxiliers', recruited in 1940 to undertake guerrilla activities in the event of an invasion (S15).
D. Gurney (HES), 15 November 2010.

June 2016-February 2017. Building Survey.
Record made of various surviving structures due to be demolished during the construction of the Norwich Northern Distributer Road.
The affected structures were related to three of the dispersed domestic sites associated with the World War Two airfield. The first group of buildings lay to the west of Sir Edward Stracey Road at TG 2762 1340 and was associated with the site an 1944 Air Ministry plan labels 'Site 3 - Sick Quarters'. The second group of buildings was to the west of Mahoney Green at TG 2771 1303 and had been part of 'Site 5 - Quarters'. Also recorded were structures to the north of Gazebo Farm at TG 2773 1284 that had been associated with 'Site 4 - Communal'. It is clear from the Air Ministry plan that the surviving structures represented only a small proportion of the buildings that had once been present at these locations, with number structure both marked on this plan and visible on contemporary aerial photographs.
Report awaited.
P. Watkins (HES), 16 June 2019.