NHER 53264 (Monument record) - Site of World War Two road block

February 2010. Norfolk NMP.
A World War Two road block is visible on wartime aerial photographs (S1)-(S2) as light-coloured lines and dots in the road surface, centred at TG 2062 0949. The site has been mapped by the NMP only by extent. The two lines of dots, spanning Sweet Briar Road from west to east, mark the location of sockets in the road surface into which vertical rails, bent pins or similar obstacles might be placed in the event of an invasion; the remainder of the time they allowed the passage of vehicles across the road block. The four further white linear marks to the north might represent further sockets or similar defensive structures, or might simply be road markings alerting vehicles to the presence of the road block.
The road block is one of numerous such obstructions evident on many of the roads (and railway lines) leading into Norwich, as well as within the city itself. In this case the road block was sited strategically on the south side of a road bridge crossing the River Wensum. There was a second road block in a similar position on Mile Cross Road, the next road crossing the river to the east (NHER 53423). Two small concrete shelters visible 200m to the southwest (NHER 53420) might be associated features. There is no evidence on more recent aerial photographs that any trace of the site remains visible today.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 16 February 2010.