NHER 67559 (Monument record) - Site of fuel storage compound for Rackheath airfield

October 2015. Desk-based Assessment.
Assessment of potential archaeological impact of proposed development.
The site was part of the World War Two airfield (NHER 8170), with four small huts/buildings visible on aerial photographs of this location. These are also marked on an Ordnance Survey map of 1957. A site visit confirmed the concrete foundations survive but no remains of the buildings themselves (which were demolished and replaced by several buildings labelled 'poultry houses' at some time prior to 1967).
See report (S1) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 6 November 2023.

November 2022. Photographic Survey.
Survey of remains associated with fuel storage compound for Rackheath airfield (NHER 8170).
This survey took place following the removal of vegetation and other overlying detritus, which fully exposed the concrete pad that had previously supported a fuel storage compound and a number of other buildings.
A rectangular area of concrete measuring 21.95m by 16.45m marked the site of the fuel compound itself (clearly corresponding with a structure marked as such on a plan produced in 1944). This was enclosed by strips of exposed soil that separated it from the surrounding concrete slab. These strips of exposed ground can be seen on aerial images of the site taken in 1946. Small concrete slabs bridging these gaps on the western and eastern sides of the compound correspond with features marked on the 1944 plan and presumably represented entrances into the fuel storage area. To the west of the main slab a series of paths and smaller area of hardstanding correspond with the locations of several building shown on the 1944 plan and listed as 'work service huts'. No remains of these buildings survived.
Although the remains of two rectangular buildings were noted to the south and south-west of the concrete pad, cartographic evidence suggests these were poultry houses erected between 1957 and 1967.
See report (S2) for further details and NHER 66813 for information on the subsequent trial trench evaluation at this site.
P. Watkins (HES), 6 November 2023.