Record Details
| NHER Number: | 27277 |
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| Type of record: | Monument |
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| Name: | World war Two pillbox |
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Summary
A World War Two pillbox, probably a Type 22, and other structures presumed to be associated with military activity are visible as extant structures on the beach at Scratby on wartime and later aerial photographs. A pillbox of unknown type, now demolished, and a spigot mortar emplacement are recorded at this same approximate location in a gazetteer of 20th-century defensive sites in Norfolk; this is almost certainly a reference to the same structures. The pillbox is first visible in August 1940 and together with the ancillary structures was probably located to inhibit a beach landing. It is neatly circumvented by a wide loop in the contemporary beach scaffolding or barbed wire (NHER 27278), forming a defensive strongpoint.
Images - none
Location
Full description
March 2005. Norfolk NMP.
A World War Two pillbox and associated military structures are visible as extant structures on aerial photographs (S1-5), centred around TG 5147 1553. The pillbox, probably a Type 22, is first visible on photographs taken in August 1940 (S1) and by February 1941 (S3) appears to have a structure, perhaps a mounting of some kind, positioned on its roof. Both the pillbox and a small concrete structure to its south-east (which could feasibly have fallen from the pillbox's roof) are visible on photographs taken in 1953 (S5). Further to the south-east is a second small structure; this is only visible on aerial photographs taken in December 1940 and February 1941 and it may have been a temporary military installation.
A pillbox and spigot mortar emplacement listed in S6 at this approximate location almost certainly equate to the structures described above. Either of the two smaller mapped structures might represent the spigot mortar emplacement, or this could even refer to the postulated mounting on the roof of the pillbox. Information contained in S5 and later aerial photographs suggest that the latter was destroyed or covered by sand some time after 1955.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 17 March 2005.
Monument Types
- PILLBOX (TYPE FW3/22) (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
- PILLBOX (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
- SPIGOT MORTAR EMPLACEMENT (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
Associated Finds - none
Protected Status - none
Sources and further reading
| <S1> | Vertical Aerial Photograph: RAF. 1940. RAF 2A/BR190 V47-8 18-AUG-1940 (NMR). |
| <S2> | Vertical Aerial Photograph: RAF. 1940. RAF 268A/BR183 9-10 17-DEC-1940 (NMR). |
| <S3> | Vertical Aerial Photograph: RAF. 1941. RAF 268F/BR172 (VA) 41-2 10-FEB-1941 (NMR). |
| <S4> | Vertical Aerial Photograph: RAF. 1945. RAF 106G/UK/832 3189-90 23-SEP-1945 (NHER TG 5015D, TG 5015A). |
| <S5> | Oblique Aerial Photograph: RAF. 1953. NHER TG 5115E (RAF 58/1006 0279) 04-FEB-1953. |
| <S6> | Monograph: Bird, C.. 1999. Silent sentinels: the story of Norfolk's fixed defences during the twentieth century.. p 78. |
Related records - none
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