Record Details

NHER Number:35863
Type of record:Monument
Name:World War Two Emergency Coastal Battery at Winterton on Sea

Summary

A World War Two Emergency Coastal Battery was located on top of the cliffs at Winterton on Sea, making use of the pre-existing lighthouse (NHER 8576) as a Battery Observation Post. The battery and its associated defences, which included barbed wire, pillboxes, spigot mortar emplacements and slit trenches, are recorded in documentary and bibliographic sources, and many are visible as earthworks, structures and buildings on aerial photographs. Some elements still survive as extant structures. The battery formed one element of an extensive network of anti invasion defences located along this stretch of coastline: 100m to its northeast was a cluster of defences protecting Winterton Gap (NHER 42452); on the dunes immediately to its east was a minefield (NHER 42453) beyond which was the battery’s Coastal Artillery Searchlight (NHER 42454); immediately to its south was a radar station and ‘Oboe’ navigation site (NHER 35862).

Images - none

Location

Grid Reference:TG 4970 1921
Map Sheet:TG41NE
Parish:WINTERTON ON SEA, GREAT YARMOUTH, NORFOLK

Full description

Site of World War Two gun battery.
Two guns, with underground chambers.
Occupied site of present Hermanus Centre and buildings to south surrounding light house (NHER 8576) which had a lookout on top.
Underground rooms remain, and some buildings incorporated into the post war Hermanus Centre, a holiday camp built like a South African village.
See (S1).
E. Rose (NLA), 9 January 2001.

January 2006. Norfolk NMP.
NMP mapping has led to the alteration of the central grid reference of the site from TG 4968 1929 to TG 4970 1921.

The World War Two gun battery described above was an Emergency Coastal Battery, built in response to the invasion threat of the early years of the war and intended to counteract enemy shipping. The various structures and defences associated with the battery are visible as buildings, structures and earthworks on aerial photographs dating from August 1940 onwards (S2)-(S7), clustered around the lighthouse (NHER 8576) which served as the Battery Observation Post. It is also recorded in a number of documentary and bibliographic sources, e.g. (S1) and (S8), the most significant of which in terms of the layout of the battery is the Fort Record Book (FRB), a plan from which is reproduced in Bird (1999) (S9). A possible bombing decoy for the site lay approximately 1km to the south of its gun houses (NHER 42499). Most of the site has been mapped by the NMP as it appeared on May 1944 and later aerial photographs, as the early photographs of the site (taken in 1940) (S2)-(S3) are generally not clear enough to map from.

The battery was equipped with two four-inch guns (S9), which were housed in gun houses sited in front (i.e. on the seaward side) of the lighthouse, at TG 4974 1923 and TG 4975 1919. On the December 1940 photographs (S3) their roofs appear to have been painted with camouflage paint. The underground rooms mentioned above would have provided accommodation for the battery crew, ammunition storage, etc.; compare, for example, the plans in Dobinson 2000 (S10) or the layout of Mundesley battery (NHER 14142). Low concrete structures mapped in the vicinity of the gun houses were probably part of this network of underground bunkers; one at least was the ventilation point for an underground magazine (S9). Shafts visible at TG 4973 1924 and TG 4975 1917 were probably stairwells. To the south and west of the lighthouse were a number of huts, including three Nissen-type huts with curved or polygonal profiles in section. In one case (at TG 4969 1920) the concrete pad which supported the hut is visible and has been mapped. A structure at TG 4968 1919 has not been mapped as its location corresponds with a building depicted on the Ordnance Survey 2nd edition 25 inch map (S11) and it is therefore unlikely to have been of military origin. A structure at TG 4969 1919 is not shown on the map but is present in 1940 and was not removed at the end of the war (e.g. (S7)); it too may not have been a military structure but it could have been used as part of the battery. It may have been associated with an area of hard standing, perhaps another building or hut platform, immediately to its south. It is marked but not named on the FRB plan (S9). The lighthouse itself, as well as serving as the Battery Observation Post, together with its adjoining buildings, was also used by the garrison: ‘cookhouse’ and ‘decontamination’ are marked on the FRB plan. All of the structures described above were enclosed within a compound of barbed wire or similar material which is also shown on the map. The visible elements have been mapped by the NMP but in places it was difficult to distinguish from vegetation.

The inner compound was surrounded by a more extensive area of land, again enclosed by a barrier of barbed wire. Within this, as well as various pre-existing buildings, were the battery’s defences. Type 22 pillboxes were located at TG 4979 1906, TG 4968 1914 (perhaps camouflaged in 1944 (S4)), and TG 4968 1939 (which had a possible blast wall to its south). These appear to have had structures on their roofs, probably mounts for Light Anti Aircraft guns. A possible spigot mortar emplacement is visible at TG 4969 1940, one of several depicted on the FRB plan (S9). Slit trenches are visible at TG 4977 1909, TG 4975 1914 and (possibly) TG 4972 1935. A ground-level structure at TG 4967 1937 was probably a covered trench, perhaps used as an air raid shelter. Disturbed ground or backfill at TG 4971 1937 may correspond with a weapons pit marked on the FRB plan (S9); a pit is also visible at TG 4978 1909. A road block, consisting of two concrete blocks and a barrier at TG 4970 1932, is visible on the aerial photographs taken in 1944 (S4). The function of a covered shaft at TG 4971 1935 is not known; it may have been another air raid shelter or have led down into underground rooms. Huts visible at TG 4964 1932 and TG 4963 1927, many of which were curved or polygonal in profile, probably provided accommodation and other facilities for the garrison. A concrete platform at TG 4976 1913 perhaps represents the site of a former hut marked ‘SOP’ on the FRB plan (S9). A curved profile hut at TG 4974 1904 is named ‘FOP’. There are further defences and structure marked on the FRB plan but these have not been recognised on the consulted aerial photographs. A structure on a concrete pad or platform, located just outside the outer line of barbed wire (at TG 4982 1900) could have been a mounting of some kind. It may have been associated with the battery, or could instead be an independent military installation or linked to the radar station to the south (NHER 35862).

Although its guns would have been removed at the end of the war, many elements of the site remain visible on post-War aerial photographs of the site. The most recent (S12), however, would suggest that little now survives above ground. The most notable exception is the northern gun house which has been converted into a building. Other parts of the site may also survive but have not been recognised on the consulted aerial photographs. In addition, several buildings at the site, most notably the lighthouse (NHER 8576), also survive but these were pre-World War Two buildings of non-military origin and have not been mapped by the NMP.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 31 January 2006.

September-October 2016.
The Early Neolithic scraper previously recorded in error under this number is now recorded under NHER 33863.
A. Beckham (HES), 15 December 2016.

Monument Types

  • AIR RAID SHELTER? (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
  • ANTI AIRCRAFT BATTERY (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
  • BARBED WIRE OBSTRUCTION (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
  • BATTERY (gun battery, World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
  • BUILDING PLATFORM (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
  • BUNKER (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
  • COAST ARTILLERY BATTERY (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
  • COASTAL BATTERY (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
  • EMERGENCY COAST DEFENCE BATTERY (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
  • GUN EMPLACEMENT (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
  • HUT (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
  • LIGHT ANTI AIRCRAFT BATTERY (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
  • MAGAZINE (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
  • NISSEN HUT? (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
  • PILLBOX (TYPE FW3/22) (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
  • PILLBOX (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
  • PIT (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
  • ROADBLOCK (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
  • ROADBLOCK (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
  • SLIT TRENCH (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
  • SPIGOT MORTAR EMPLACEMENT (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
  • TRENCH (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
  • UNDERGROUND STRUCTURE (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
  • WEAPONS PIT (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)

Associated Finds - none

Protected Status - none

Sources and further reading

---Secondary File: Secondary File.
<S1>Article in Serial: Brown, P.. 2000. Winterton on Sea: Village Survey.. NIAS Journal. Vol 6, No 5. p 78.
<S2>Oblique Aerial Photograph: RAF. 1940. NMR TG 5019/5 (MSO 31014 2A/BR14/4 3610) 16-AUG-1940.
<S3>Vertical Aerial Photograph: RAF. 1940. RAF 268A/BR183 17-19 17-DEC-1940 (NMR).
<S4>Vertical Aerial Photograph: RAF. 1944. RAF 106G/LA/17 3006-7 28-MAY-1944 (NMR).
<S5>Vertical Aerial Photograph: RAF. 1945. RAF 106G/UK/832 3195-6 23-SEP-1945 (NHER TG 4918B, TG 4919B).
<S6>Vertical Aerial Photograph: RAF. 1949. RAF 541/264 4044-6 02-JUN-1949 (NMR).
<S7>Vertical Aerial Photograph: RAF. 1952. RAF 540/705 5095-6 09-APR-1952 (NMR).
<S8>*Digital Archive: Foot, W.. 2004?. Defence Area 56 (Winterton-on-Sea) IN Defence Areas. A National Study of Second World War Anti-Invasion Landscapes in England.
<S9>Monograph: Bird, C.. 1999. Silent sentinels: the story of Norfolk's fixed defences during the twentieth century.. pp 18-20.
<S10>Serial: Dobinson, C.S.. 2000. Twentieth Century Fortifications in England. Vol. VI.1 Coast Artillery 1900-56.. Fig 22.
<S11>Map: Ordnance Survey. 1902-7. Ordnance Survey second edition 25" (1902-7) Sheet LIV. 2. 25" to 1'.
<S12>Vertical Aerial Photograph: Environment Agency. 2002. EA 042 AF/02C/339 7047-9 22-JUL-2002 (EA).

Related records

42499Related to: Possible World War Two bombing decoy for Winterton Emergency Coastal Battery (Monument)
8576Related to: The Lighthouse (Building)
42454Related to: World War Two Coastal Artillery Searchlight Battery and other defences on Winterton Dunes (Monument)

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