Record Details
| NHER Number: | 24185 |
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| Type of record: | Monument |
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| Name: | World War Two gun emplacement in southwest corner of The Quag |
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Summary
A rare World War Two Norcon emplacement is visible on aerial photographs.
Images - none
Location
| Grid Reference: | TG 0932 4385 |
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| Map Sheet: | TG04SE |
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| Parish: | KELLING, NORTH NORFOLK, NORFOLK |
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Full description
Defensive structure?
Large concrete structure, at first appearing to be a very large sewer pipe section, but has odd little square doorways
or loopholess in sides. Could this be the base of some sort of gun turret like the iron ones eg. NHER 24186.
Seen several times 1984 to 1986.
E. Rose (NAU), 25 November 1987.
Grid reference corrected on ground 3 January 1988.
E. Rose (NAU).
In fact a rare NORCON FW 3/25 gun turret.
E. Rose (NAU), 23 May 1988.
1994.
Still there, but crumbling.
E. Rose (NLA).
February 1995.
Completely cleared of vegetation by persons unknown.
E. Rose (NLA) 3 February 1995.
August 1996.
Still there, having survived the floods in area.
E. Rose (NLA), 21 August 1996.
Very rare concrete Norcon emplacement. Date 1940.
See (S1).
D. Walker (NLA), July 1996.
October 2002. Norfolk NMP.
A World War Two Norcon emplacement is just visible through undergrowth on 1994 OS aerial photographs (S2). It is located at TG 0932 4385 and appears to be 4m in diameter, although the site is quite heavily obscured by vegetation.
S. Massey (NMP), 19 March 2003.
December 2004. Norfolk Rapid Coastal Zone Archaeological Survey.
Land-based survey; Cley, Salthouse and Kelling fresh-marshes, Context 13:
A curving sea defence bank which was up to 2m tall on the south and east but only 0.5m tall on the west. About 8m wide, it was recorded between TG 09328 43870 and TG 09413 43732.
See assessment report (S3) for further details.
The associated archive has been deposited with the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2017.421).
A. Cattermole (NLA), 6 December 2007. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 21 July 2019.
This group of coastal defences is one of only two locations where Norcon pillboxes are known to have been present in Norfolk, the other being Docking (where five have now been identified - see NHERs 30778, 30779, 57853, 58229 and 65268).
It should be noted that the Defence of Britain Archive has three records documenting Norcon pillboxes at Kelling/Weybourne. Two almost certainly relate to this pillbox, but the third (S0016971) potentially records an additional structure. This is described as located "on [the] seafront at Weybourne Camp" and "…overgrown by reeds and partially flooded" at the time it was examined in 2001. The grid reference listed places it approximately 80m to the north-east of NHER 24185, where no surviving structures are currently recorded.
P. Watkins (HES), 10 January 2022.
Monument Types
- GUN EMPLACEMENT (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
- PILLBOX (TYPE CP/6/40/111) (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
Associated Finds - none
Protected Status - none
Sources and further reading
| --- | Photograph: 25 June 1980. 1994. KHF 28-29. |
| --- | Record Card: NAU Staff. 1974-1988. Norfolk Archaeological Index Primary Record Card. |
| --- | Monograph: Wills, H.. 1985. Pillboxes: a study of UK defences, 1940. |
| --- | Secondary File: Secondary File. |
| <S1> | Recording Form: [various]. Norfolk Defensive Structures Survey Recording Form. Norfolk Defensive Structures Survey. |
| <S2> | Vertical Aerial Photograph: Ordnance Survey. 1994. OS/94172 015-6 14-JUN-1994 (NAPL). |
| <S3> | Unpublished Contractor Report: Robertson, D., Crawley, P., Barker, A., and Whitmore, S. 2005. Norfolk Rapid Coastal Zone Archaeological Survey. Assessment Report and Updated Project Design. Norfolk Archaeological Unit. 1045. |
Related records
| 41014 | Part of: Post medieval and World War Two features and structures (Monument) |
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