Record Details

NHER Number:39191
Type of record:Monument
Name:Site of World War Two slit trench

Summary

A World War Two slit trench is visible as an earthwork on aerial photographs. It may have been excavated as a practice trench, or it possibly formed part of the extensive network of coastal defences that has been identified along this strip of coastline, which was heavily protected during the war.

Images - none

Location

Grid Reference:TG 3069 3712
Map Sheet:TG33NW
Parish:MUNDESLEY, NORTH NORFOLK, NORFOLK

Full description

January 2005. Norfolk NMP.
A World War Two slit trench is visible as an earthwork on aerial photographs (S1-2), centred at TG 3069 3712. It is visible as a fresh earthwork on aerial photographs taken in 1940 (S1). Although it lies within a wider network of World War Two coastal defences, its siting does not appear to be particularly strategic and it was perhaps excavated as a training exercise. Two other slit trenches, one only partially excavated, lie to its east and west (NHER 39192 and 39190 respectively), and these might also be practice trenches. A closely spaced group of trenches (part of NHER 39109) at Mundesley Holiday Camp is a clearer indication that military training was being carried out in the vicinity. The trench described here has the zigzag outline typical of World War Two slit trenches. A small pit is also visible. Later aerial photographs and modern maps indicate that the earthwork was levelled by 1952 and subsequently built over.
(S1-2)
S. Tremlett (NMP), 10 January 2005.

Monument Types

  • PRACTICE TRENCH (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
  • SLIT TRENCH (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 2/BR186 7-8 05-SEP-1940 (NMR).
<S2>Vertical Aerial Photograph: RAF. 1941. RAF S/330 40-1 16-JUL-1941 (NMR).

Related records - none

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