NHER 6236 (Monument record) - Site of post medieval building and World War Two military features, Lodge Hill

Site of 'Old Lodge' marked as antiquity on (S1). However this is also the site of Randell's Folly, an arch-shaped structure erected in the 1860s. Is this then one of the later additions to the 1 inch Ordnance Survey undated map, and a mistake? The structure became a rocket house in 1873, a private house in about 1910, then derelict, and was washed away in 1953. Section of Lodge Hill now forming sea cliff at this point reveals several pits 1 to 2m deep, one square-sectioned. Fill topsoil; no finds. On beach here the ruins of a fallen World War Two pillbox.
E. Rose (NAU), 15 April 1980.

Totally destroyed. The hill was washed away in floods around 1991 and the shingle bank now continues right across the site without a break. A television news report of 'foundations of old cottages on the shore near Gramborough Hill' being exposed and destroyed may refer to this.
E. Rose (NLA), 29 May 1994.

(S2) in file states ruins were not demolished until 1956.

See record form in file by [1], who adds:
?Pillbox of unknown type, once situated on beach. Now completely destroyed.
Survey No. D2-4.
D. Walker (NLA), July 1996.

October 2002. Norfolk NMP.
The site of now destroyed post-medieval building and World War Two military defensive structures visible on RAF aerial photographs from 1940 (S4), 1946 (S5) and 1952 (S6). The destroyed Lodge or ‘Rocket House’ was mapped at TG 0811 4435 and is consistent with building depicted on the 2nd edition map (1902-7, 25 inch) (S7). The Great Eye has several World War Two structures placed on top of it. Two pillboxes, 5m square and probably type 20s, are located at TG 0808 4438 and TG 0812 4437. These structures were not very clear on the aerial photographs earlier than the 1952 (S6) images. This is due to the land that these structures were originally dug into being eroded around them. Another 5m square structure is located at TG 0804 4435, this is possibly another pillbox. To the immediate southeast of the post medieval building remains, are two L-shaped buildings, both measuring 9m by 5m, with an adjoining 3m by 2m structure. These are located at TG 0814 4434 and TG 0814 4433. Several other structures of unknown function were identified within the site: at TG 0815 4433 (2m square), at TG 0802 4436 (13.5m by 4.5m) and at TG 0809 4434 (4m by 2.5m). Within the main area of the site, centred on TG 0809 4437, is a concentration of practice trenches forming zigzag plans. Scaffolding (NHER 27805) surrounds the seaward side of the site. However there appears to be several structures that are to the north of this protective barrier. These are likely be pillboxes or gun positions. There is a structure at TG 0810 4439 (3m by 2.5m), another at TG 0816 4435 (3.5m by 2.5m). A structure is also located on top of the sea bank (NHER 27805) at TG 0817 4435 (6m by 3.5m). An elongated rectangular structure is centred on TG 0807 4440, this measures 7.5 by 1.5m. It is possible that this is a extension of the scaffolding at this point. To the south and west of the site running from TG 0809 4437 to TF 0804 4431 are several linear features which may be lines of barbed wire defended the back of the site.
S. Massey (NMP), 21 March 2003.

(S8) gives more accurate details of the structures. A map of 1733 shows a red and white structure here; was this the 'old lodge' used as a beacon? The Folly had a carriage arch through leading to a bridge over a creek, part of which remained until 1920. During World War One it became a military prison and a boardwalk was laid to it out from the village, known as the longest bridge in Norfolk. In 1937 a wing was added to the house. Sylvia Townsend-Walker lived here in the 1950s. Photograph of pillbox suggests a standard polygonal type. It later had a winch on top and was washed away in 1949.
E. Rose (NLA), 14 October 2003.

May-November 2004. Norfolk Rapid Coastal Zone Archaeological Survey.
Inter-tidal survey (Environmental Zone 12), Context 127:
Two low rectangular platforms were recorded between TG 08008 44351 to TG 08021 44311 (to the south of the modern shingle bank and to the east of Little Eye). They seemed to indicate the presence of a buried building and/or walls. If this was the case, they may have been from a building associated Randall’s Folly/Rocket House, a late 19th-century building that stood nearby until 1953 (Fiddian 2003, 129, 280 to 291). However, the platforms were located to the southwest of the Randall's Folly House buildings plotted by NMP.
See assessment report (S9) for further details.
The associated archive has been deposited with the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2017.421).
J. Allen (NLA), 22 April 2005. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 20 July 2019.

Press cuttings (S2) and (S10) in file.