Record Details
| NHER Number: | 27341 |
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| Type of record: | Monument |
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| Name: | Site of World War Two Direction Finding Station |
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Summary
A World War Two High Frequency Direction Finding (HF/DF) site, consisting of up to four transmission huts or towers together with other structures and earthworks, is visible on aerial photographs. The site was used as a navigation aid by fighter and bomber aircraft. Some elements of the site remained in use in the post war period but the site has now been entirely demolished.
Images - none
Location
| Grid Reference: | TG 4897 1630 |
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| Map Sheet: | TG41NE |
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| Parish: | HEMSBY, GREAT YARMOUTH, NORFOLK |
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Full description
May 2005. Norfolk NMP.
A World War Two HF/DF (High Frequency Direction Finding) site, identified by Roger Thomas (English Heritage), is visible as extant structures, buildings, earthworks and cropmarks on aerial photographs (S1) to (S3), centred at TG 4898 1630. It comprises up to four transmission huts/towers, an unusually large number according to Roger Thomas (one is usual). Ancillary structures, including a probable rest room and a generator hut, are also visible. Some elements can just be made out on aerial photographs taken in 1940 e.g. (S4), but the site as a whole is not visible until May 1944 (S1). By September 1945 (S2) various alterations had been made, and by July 1946 (S3) only two of the towers remained standing. The site appears to have continued in use, in some form, in the 1950s and 1960s, probably in case of radar failure, as specified under the ROTOR Plan (information from Roger Thomas) but more recent aerial photographs and modern maps indicate that its has now been completely levelled.
The four transmission huts or towers are visible as circular or polygonal structures on concrete bases at TG 4910 1647, TG 4909 1633, TG 4907 1615 and TG 4898 1625. A hut and a concrete building visible in the southeast corner of the site (at TG 4917 1612) are probably a rest hut and a generator house. Some of the other mapped features may be defensive, such as small gun emplacements. A large, embanked pit visible as a cropmark at TG 4889 1625 may also represent a levelled gun emplacement, although an agricultural rather than archaeological origin for the feature cannot be ruled out.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 17 May 2005.
Monument Types
- GENERATOR HOUSE? (World War Two to Cold War - 1939 AD to 1992 AD)
- GUN EMPLACEMENT? (World War Two to Cold War - 1939 AD to 1992 AD)
- HUT (World War Two to Cold War - 1939 AD to 1992 AD)
- MILITARY BUILDING (World War Two to Cold War - 1939 AD to 1992 AD)
- RADAR BEACON (World War Two to Cold War - 1939 AD to 1992 AD)
- RADIO STATION (World War Two to Cold War - 1939 AD to 1992 AD)
- TRANSMITTER SITE (World War Two to Cold War - 1939 AD to 1992 AD)
Associated Finds - none
Protected Status - none
Sources and further reading
| <S1> | Vertical Aerial Photograph: RAF. 1944. RAF 106G/LA/17 4010-1 28-MAY-1944 (NMR). |
| <S2> | Vertical Aerial Photograph: RAF. 1945. RAF 106G/UK/832 3212 23-SEP-1945 (NHER TG 4917A). |
| <S3> | Vertical Aerial Photograph: RAF. 1946. RAF 106G/UK/1634 1031-2 09-JUL-1946 (NHER TG 4816A, TG 4916A). |
| <S4> | Oblique Aerial Photograph: RAF. 1940. NMR TG 5016/7 (MSO 31022 26/BR14/1 4800) 19-SEP-1940. |
Related records - none
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