NHER 53591 (Monument record) - Site of World War One military training area

May 2010. Norfolk NMP.
The World War One military training area described below was previously recorded as part of NHER 30564.
World War One practice trenches are visible as fresh earthworks on an aerial photograph taken in 1917 (S1), centred at TG 2012 0733. They are subsequently visible as soilmarks on later aerial photographs, such as (S2). They presumably relate to a World War One military training area described in a letter to a newspaper (S3) and in a bibliographic source (S4), which occupied part of the area purchased by the Norwich Playing Fields and Open Spaces Society subsequently used for the creation of Eaton Park (NHER 30564). The features visible on the aerial photographs lie beyond the western limit of what became the formal park, in an area sometimes known as the third field, which is now occupied by the pitch-and-putt course (Anderson 2000, (S4)).
The earthworks, visible in two distinct areas, have been mapped only by extent. Their western limit is uncertain, as it lies on or beyond the edge of the 1917 photograph (S1) and is not visible on later aerial photographs. Possible buildings or structures associated with the trenches are visible in the southeast corner of the site (at TG 2024 0723) but have not been mapped. Further east, in the area later occupied by the formal park, there may be further traces of military activity on the 1917 aerial photograph (S1), but uncertainty as to its nature and form means that it does not warrant it being mapped by the NMP.
The newspaper letter (S3) relates that this area was also used for military training in World War Two but no definite evidence of this could be identified on the consulted aerial photographs.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 14 May 2010.