NHER 66480 (Monument record) - Remains of surface air raid shelters and other buildings associated with Downham Market airfield

Two adjacent groups of military buildings associated with Downham Market airfield (NHER 2455) are visible on aerial photographs taken in 1946. The functions of the buildings at this location are unknown at present, although most were probably accommodation blocks. The majority of these structures are depicted on an Ordnance Survey Six-inch map published in 1952 (S1), but all were subsequently demolished. Woodland plantations were then established across the site, making it possible that remains survive that had been lost at the locations that reverted to arable land. This is borne out by recent aerial imagery taken following the clearance of the southern plantation at some time between 2018 and 2020. The remains of two reasonably substantial, cross-shaped structures can be clearly seen at the southern edge of the site on (S2). These are almost certainly the remains of brick-built surface air raid shelters, being identical to several such structures exposed following tree felling at the location of another of the airfield’s satellite sites, approximately 500m to the east (NHER 63351). The concrete foundations of several of the other buildings that once stood at this location can also be seen, although their condition appears poor and it is clear that the site saw at least some disturbance as a result of the tree felling operations.
It is likely that similar remains survive within the northern plantation, particularly as modern mapping and recent aerial imagery show that the original access roads and areas of hard standing all survive.
See NHERs 63351, 65670, 66474-66479 and 66481-66483 for details of the other satellite sites associated with the World War Two airfield.
P. Watkins (HES), 19 November 2022.