NHER 52494 (Monument record) - Site of World War Two railblock on Eastern Union Railway Norwich Extension

November 2009. Norfolk NMP.
A World War Two railblock is evident as a group of structures visible on aerial photographs (S1)-(S2), centred at TG 2278 0517. It was positioned along the Eastern Union Railway Norwich Extension (NHER 13578; also known as the Ipswich and Norwich Railway, NMR TG 20 NW LINEAR 1101), in a strategic location on the southern embankment leading to a viaduct crossing both the River Yare and the Norfolk Railway (NHER 13571). It was one of several such defences established during this period on the railway lines surrounding Norwich; for example, see NHER 53255 on the Norfolk Railway (NHER 13571) approximately 400m to the northeast.
Possibly visible on photographs taken in 1942, but more clearly recorded by photographs taken in 1945, the railblock appears to have consisted of multiple lines of sockets spanning the railway line into which anti-tank rails or similar obstacles could be inserted (in 1945 only the sockets are visible; these have been mapped collectively using ‘Extent of Area’). These were flanked by two large concrete blocks at their northern end. The latter had been removed by April 1946 (S3); it is not known whether any traces of the site still remain.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 30 November 2009.