Record Details
| NHER Number: | 42471 |
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| Type of record: | Monument |
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| Name: | Site of World War Two searchlight emplacement |
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Summary
A late form of World War Two searchlight site is visible on aerial photographs taken in 1944. This type of site would have used a radar controlled projector, mounted on a wheeled trailer. As well as the operational equipment this site comprised a number of huts and several possible gun emplacements. It was still visble on 1945 aerial photographs but had been entirely dismantled by 1946.
Images - none
Location
| Grid Reference: | TG 4846 1954 |
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| Map Sheet: | TG41NE |
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| Parish: | SOMERTON, GREAT YARMOUTH, NORFOLK |
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Full description
February 2006. Norfolk NMP.
A World War Two searchlight battery is visible as a group of structures and buildings on aerial photographs taken in 1944 (S1), centred at TG 4846 1954. Some elements were still visible in 1945 (S2 to S3). Roger Thomas (English Heritage) has identified the site as a late form of searchlight site, which utilised a radar controlled 150mm projector mounted on a wheeled trailer. The Somerton site comprised a small structure, presumably the searchlight (at TG 4848 1953), surrounded by what appears to have been a concrete path which leads away towards ancillary structures to the west. This in turn was surrounded by an area of vegetation which appears to have been shorter (or at least different) from the surrounding field; the extent of this has been mapped
To the west (between TG 4844 1955 and TG 4845 1949) was a row of five huts, probably operational buildings and accommodation for the crew. Additional structures are visible at TG 4843 1965, TG 4843 1964, TG 4844 1956 and TG 4845 1947. Structures, or perhaps in some cases pits, at TG 4844 1967, TG 4842 1965 and TG 4849 1943 were probably gun emplacements or similar defences. To the south of the searchlight is an area of higher or denser vegetation and disturbed ground (not mapped) partially enclosed by what was probably a fence.
By September 1945 (S2 to S3) the searchlight had been removed, but most of the huts and structures still remained. These too had been removed by July 1946 (S4). Whether any traces of the structures still survive at the site is not known.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 2 February 2006.
Monument Types
- ACCOMMODATION HUT? (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)
- MILITARY BUILDING (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
- SEARCHLIGHT BATTERY (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
- STRUCTURE (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
Associated Finds - none
Protected Status - none
Sources and further reading
| <S1> | Vertical Aerial Photograph: RAF. 1944. RAF 106G/LA/17 4005-6 28-MAY-1944 (NMR). |
| <S2> | Vertical Aerial Photograph: RAF. 1945. RAF 106G/UK/832 3207-8 23-SEP-1945 (NHER TG 4719B & TG 4819A). |
| <S3> | Vertical Aerial Photograph: RAF. 1945. RAF 106G/UK/859 3113-4 29-SEP-1945 (NMR). |
| <S4> | Vertical Aerial Photograph: RAF. 1946. RAF 106G/UK/1634 2047-8 09-JUL-1946 (NHER TG 4819B-C). |
Related records - none
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