Norfolk Heritage Explorer

Location

Full description

March 2006. Norfolk NMP.
A World War Two military site is visible as extant buildings, structures and earthworks on aerial photographs (S1)-(S8), centred at TG 5300 0641. It was located on St Nicholas Recreation Ground (parts of which have since been built over or turned into a car park), adjacent to the Royal Naval Hospital (NHER 4340). Given this proximity, it seems probable that the site was under at least some degree of Naval control. There is some evidence of activity at the site visible on aerial photographs taken in 1940-1 (S1)-(S2), but most elements are first visible on aerial photographs taken in 1944-5 (S3)-(S6). The function of many of the features mapped by the NMP is not known, and some mapped objects may not have been of military origin, while others which have not been mapped may have had a military function.

One of the most prominent features at the site was a large semi-sunken air raid shelter located in the northeast corner of the site and visible as an elongated mound between TG 5306 0653 and TG 5306 0642. Two covered entrances and what may have been an associated concrete-edged shaft are visible at the square northern end of the mound, as are two probable ventilation shafts on its roof. How far along the mound the shelter extended is not clear: it may have been confined to this northern end. The size and form of the shelter are comparable to other communal shelters mapped elsewhere at Great Yarmouth (for example NHER 27374 250m to the west); whether it was used by the public or only by military personnel stationed at the hospital is not known.

Another prominent installation at the site was the barrage balloon positioned here between February 1941 and March 1944 (compare (S2) and (S3)). At ground level the site consisted of a roughly circular central tethering platform (at TG 5301 0648) surrounded by two to three concentric circles of smaller tethering blocks (these vary in shape on the photographs but have been mapped as circular). Nearby structures which were probably associated with the balloon site and perhaps acted as operational buildings and shelter for the garrison included a curved profile hut (perhaps a Nissen hut) and two smaller huts at TG 5303 0651. Further small structures and concrete pads are visible at TG 5302 0650 and TG 5299 0649. Comparison with the plans of other barrage balloon sites, for example NHER 42505 1.45km to the northwest and NHER 27363 1.1km to the south, suggests that the latter may have once supported one or more buildings.

The function of other elements of the site is less clear. An embanked and covered trench at TG 5294 0648, which was recently completed or still being constructed in February 1941 (S2), may have been an air raid shelter. The purpose of a sub-circular pit at its north end, which surrounds a vertical pole or similar structure, is not known, but similar features are visible at TG 5294 0652 and TG 5297 0652. Three complex arrangements of pits, lined shafts, pads and structures, which are visible at TG 5294 0646, TG 5294 0640 and TG 5294 0635, are also enigmatic. They may represent emplacements of some kind, perhaps for guns or searchlights. Alternatively, they could have been the surface elements of underground structures or bunkers buried below the playing field; the edge of the recreation ground was steeply banked and ‘entrances’ into it are visible at TG 5293 0637 and TG 5294 0629. The latter could instead have had a more mundane role, perhaps associated with the drainage of the playing fields, as was probably the case with the closely spaced ‘tunnels’ (not mapped) visible along the southern part of the eastern edge of the site. Similarly, rectilinear parchmarks visible on oblique aerial photographs of the site taken in 1980 (S9) are more likely to reflect recent grounds keeping rather than any postulated underground bunkers or shelters. Other unidentified features which have been mapped include: concrete platforms at TG 5295 0631 and TG 5302 0631 (the concrete at TG 5305 0637, which has not been mapped, probably relates to a pre-war building shown on the Ordnance Survey 2nd edition map (S10)-(S11)); a pit at TG 5297 0629; a concrete-edged shaft, enclosed on its west side by a possible blast wall, at TG 5305 0646; and a rectangular trench or slot at TG 5303 0652.

Several of the features visible at the site, such as the curved profile hut, remained in place for some years after the end of the war (S7)-(S8). Although no evidence of the military use of the site has been recognised on more recent aerial photographs of the area, some parts of the site could survive, probably as sub-surface features.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 10 March 2006.

Monument Types

• ACCOMMODATION HUT? (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
• AIR RAID SHELTER (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
• BARRAGE BALLOON SITE (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
• BLAST WALL? (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
• BUNKER? (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
• HUT (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
• NISSEN HUT? (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
• PIT (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
• SHAFT (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
• STRUCTURE (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)
• VENTILATION SHAFT (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)

Associated Finds - none

Protected Status - none

Sources and further reading

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