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    Arrow WW2 Defences - Holme - next - the - Sea Norfolk January 2012

    This was a typical winter! January down on the Norfolk coast is not one of the most warmest times to go bunker hunting I was staying in Hunstanton over the weekend, so a good 2 hour foot slog along the dunes seemed to be in order!

    I was pleasantly surprised at what I uncovered, and certainly a lot of unanswered questions about some of the defences I found?

    On with the Pics:



    This stretch of coastline is one of constant erosion and shifting sands as the abandoned sea defences will testify.



    First up was this spigot mortar base, located next to a break in the dunes, closer inspection revealed another one 10 yards away hiding in the gorse.

    A further 10 min walk into "No Mans Land" literally, no habitation for miles around! I came across a heavily concreted air raid shelter buried back in the dunes.





    Although this does not go back a long way, (more like a room) access either side signifies that this was of some importance. Not to far from here I came across some narrow gauge railway lines in the dunes, and very soon another air raid shelter buried nearly up to its roof in sand.



    There was obviously something significant that was in this area, I suspect that the a lot has been covered by the shifting sands. Looking from a vantage point and the lay of the land there appears to be a trench system evident this was soon verified by a strange bunker/pillbox, (that aligned itself with the shelter above) that I have never come across before, located some 150 yards away along the trench.



    Looking along the trench line, centre is the buried bunker/pillbox.



    Interior of the buried bunker/pillbox, not to sure of this one? it does not look like a PB, with the side windows, that would have faced out onto the beach.

    From here, what appears to be an anti tank ditch soon comes into view, walking along the ditch several barbed wire entanglement stakes can be seen buried partially in the sides of the ditch.



    At the end of the ditch a big Blockhouse defends the corner of the anti tank ditch, it then does a 360 degree turn back on itself and runs off to form a compound?



    Inside the blockhouse (right building in above photo) are the remains of what looks like a small pulley/conveyor, its purpose is unknown?





    Some of these buildings are on the DOB database but there purpose is unknown? Certainly at this time of the year with the vegitation down, the landscape can be better viewed and an idea of the size of this place can be ascertained, was there a big anti aircraft complex here or something different that has been buried in the dunes?

    One for the Norfolk boys to come up with some answers?
    Over to you!

    Thanks for looking






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    Default Re: WW2 Defences - Holme - next - the - Sea - Norfolk, (Pic Heavy) January 2012

    This is Holme Dune ranges, I've done a couple of visits including a walk around with the NWT warden based at The Firs and had a chat with the folk at the NOA observatory. Which reminds me, I'm supposed to be finishing an outline history of the site for the NOA.



    The red, blue and yellow lines mark target tracks for cable-hauled target trolleys (I'm not convinced about the yellow one, I think this was a protected walkway or a/t dicth). There are five of the bunkers that you have found. I believe that these were shelters for crews maintaining the targets/trolleys.

    At the apex of the three lines is a substantial complex that held the winching machinery. This is the building with the pully block.

    There is an additional observation or coast watch shelter built into the dunes. Near the track is what appears to be a NG inspection pit. At the entrance to the site a concrete range flag post baseis still in situ. Documentation in the county archives indicates that there were two abandoned AFV hulks and a piles of NG rail awaiting collection/disposal after the second world war. The hardstanding firing points can still be seen on aerial photographs, and the warden reports that they are concrete. The observation tower noted in the archives has long gone.

    The purple area is really interesting, this would appear to be one or two racetrack MTRs.

    The history and use all get a bit muddled though. Part of the site was Hunstanton Aero Range in the 1930s. At some time anti-invasion defences were built, still evident as a line of A/T ditches in the dunes (parallel to the red line on the seaward side). The River Hun had already been straightened, but this was widened and/or deepened to form a second A/T ditch behind the dunes. I think there's something similar going on at Heacham where the two FW3/28a pillboxes are sited next to the roadblock on the bridge. Aerial photographs taken just after the war appear to show a minefield having been cleared to the WNW of the entrance to Holme Dunes reserve.

    I didn't know about the two SM bases you mention, there's a third way across the other side of the reserve heading towards the coalhouse at Thornham. I'd be interested to know exactly where these are so I can plot them on the map. I do know that there were Allan Williams turrets in the area and extensive wire defences (I have a note of a triple danert apron taken from maps in the archives).

    I suspect that there are at least two phases of use, or at least a substantial upgrade, during the 39-45 period. The North Norfolk coast gets very confusing from a military history point of view, and I've not found a publication that really reflects this. Holme shows intermittent usage between 1930 and 1945. Brancaster had some hush-hush beach landings trials as well as a range of it's own, ane there was possibly an additional range at Thornham. Titchwell has at least two phases with the WW2 tank gunnery range on the current RSPB reserve and a post-war air-to-ground range to the immediate west. But even that's not clear as there are structures predating this still present. And that's before we get into the various small arms ranges in the area as well!

    There are still several days of document exploration in the archives needed to put all this together.
    Last edited by SaltGeorge; 24-01-2012 at 12:35 AM.
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    Tankman (24-01-2012)

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    Default Re: WW2 Defences - Holme - next - the - Sea - Norfolk, (Pic Heavy) January 2012

    Thanks SG, for that explanation, I knew you would come up with the answers
    The trenches must have been pretty deep, if you go by the filled in shelters and buildings. I reckon there is more laying under the dunes, especially where the NR track is.

    The two Spigot mortars lay just beyond the end of a line of beach huts, just before the Golf course ends! One is visible from the path, the other can be seen in the gorse.

    I took quite a few photos of the Anti tank ditch and trenches, so if you need anymore, happy to oblige.



    From your description: This photo was taken looking back, down the red line, towards the building below and beyond this the winch/blockhouse.



    This lays in the centre of the red line on your plan, and is nearly covered in sand, so it gives you some idea of the depth of the trench!



    Rear of the above building.

    The trench line then leads on to the winch/block house.



    The winch/Blockhouse and the defence line (yellow line on your map) running away towards the NWT's house.



    Furthest away shelter I found, buried in the bushes, the NG track can just be seen sticking up! Lower left in photo. There are two mounds visible in the photo, and what appears to be some sort of entrance in the middle? The left mound has an inner defence line/ditch.
    Nuclear Bunker & Fallout Shelter Cleaning Specialist. One Mushroom Cloud will keep your bunker, radiant and shiney for years! Ring us now for specialist advice

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    Default Re: WW2 Defences - Holme - next - the - Sea - Norfolk, (Pic Heavy) January 2012

    This is definitely a site I could explain easier with a group field trip! Elvis, there should be a work-in-progress thread in NP, if you want to move that to P. It has hyperlinks to documents on the TNA index and elsewhere, and I think it also includes 1946 aerial photographs (I can't remember how much I added to the WIP thread - if not I can copy across something from PSG or AIx).

    The narrow gauge rails that stick up are the end-stop of the red line (from memory). There's a maintenance bunker very close by (there's a second very near here as well).

    The structure buried in the sand (third from last photo, numbering photos makes this so much easier) is, I believe, a coast-watch shelter. Possibly for monitoring vessels that might enter the danger zone behind the targets. The structure isn't built very heavily (compared to shell-proof pillbox standards), it has straight-through communications access (both for cables and movement of personel) and the openings are sized and positioned to act as windows rather than embrasures. However, the line of the ditch it sits in may be an A/T defence being ustilised to give (relatively) safe passage behind the targets.

    If you look on the beach you can usually find conglomerates of gravel/sand around iron cores. These are 70-year old practice shells. Sometime in the next 6-8 weeks the MOD ordnance teams will be due to make their annual sweep of the beach. Their inerts finds will be piled up somewhere on-site until they get around to removing them.

    I know where you mean now for the SM mounts. I didn't have time on my last visit to complete my walk back towards the old coastguard station. I want to get back to the archives and copy the maps for that area as there is quite a bit indicated there. I was concentrating on the other end, looking at the east end of the yellow line to see if there was anything there. The east end is also muddled. Sometime after the war the site was bought and holiday chalets built. There were even plans to build a Butlins holiday camp, but these were permenently shelved after the big floods during 1953. The NOA observatory office is in what I think was the shop. But this appears to be an older building, possibly a garage or a service building. There are some remains in the area that are unclear, they may be associated with the holiday camp, they may be earlier, or they may be out of context. The dunes have shifted a lot over the years. The Firs has been there throughout this, which is another reason for me doubting that the yellow line was a target line and was instead a communications trench. I need to find my notes, but from memory the embankment alongside yellow is noted on maps in the archives as being built from petrol tins.
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    Default Re: WW2 Defences - Holme - next - the - Sea - Norfolk, (Pic Heavy) January 2012

    Quote Originally Posted by Tankman View Post
    Furthest away shelter I found, buried in the bushes, the NG track can just be seen sticking up! Lower left in photo. There are two mounds visible in the photo, and what appears to be some sort of entrance in the middle? The left mound has an inner defence line/ditch.
    Those two mounds aren't defensive. They are the elevated dumb-bell loops of the racetrack MTR (moving target range). If you look at the area on Google Earth you can trace the loops of the MTR, every turn (including the loops) has the same radius (which would have been determined by rail gauge and the wheelbase of the trolley). Whereas the linear target ranges (red and blue) were winched targets, the MTR was probably a self-propelled target trolley. By looping around the racetrack the target would have presented a moving target with changing range. On the basis of comments comments from others and looking at other ranges around the country, I think this part of the range was probably used for HMG practice rather than A/T.
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    Default Re: WW2 Defences - Holme - next - the - Sea - Norfolk, (Pic Heavy) January 2012

    I knew I had an aerial somewhere..



    The two mounds are roughly at point A. You can make out the compressed "8" of the MTR racetrack. I'm not certain if it's a single track, two left/right out-and-back dumbells, or a combination that could operate in either mode. You can also see that the MTR lies within the jaws of the two winched target tracks.

    You can also clearly see the hardstanding firing positions. The archive map notes an observation tower to the ESE of the 525-yard point, "raised observation tower on concrete and tubular scaffolding piles". There may also have been structures to the ESE of the eastern turning circle and on the pads themselves, "wooden hut lying on it's side".

    Near where tankman has found the spigot mortar mounts, my notes from the 1950 map indicate, "m/g metal turret" recorded at two different locations, "m/g turret top" and "triple dannert and double apron wire".

    To me, that sounds like at least two and possibly three unrecorded Allan Williams turrets (probably removed for scrap with the AFV hulks, but perhaps buried in the dunes?), and s short stretch of a very serious obstacle (training purposes?).
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    Default Re: WW2 Defences - Holme - next - the - Sea - Norfolk, (Pic Heavy) January 2012

    Quote Originally Posted by Tankman View Post
    Spot on SG I knew you would come up with the answers. Its amazing how much talent and information is known by people on the forum. Certainly more intel available from members on here than other UE forums. If you want to get up a military theme, field trip for your neck of the woods I have no problem in joining in over a weekend as I normally visit Norfolk quite a lot.
    This area is both local and a pet subject of mine. I tend not to post much because it can take me months to get the visits in to a site, get the research done, get in a few repeat visits for bits the research has turned up and then finally get around to getting it all polished off into a history. One visit and a dozen photos doesn't scratch my itch..

    If anyone wants a field trip to the area, it might not have any of the big ticket items (assylums, mills, etc), but there is plenty to go at:
    • Holme Dunes, Thornham, Brancaster and Titchwell ranges. These are all equally under-researched in the published sources. Holme and Titchwell are nice easy sites to see what's going on if you know what to look for.
    • Minor small arms ranges, generally completely over-looked, but access can be awkward and the remains may only be subtle. One not far from Marham looks a good possibility for identifiable features on tyhe ground when the weather improves.
    • Airfield decoys and bombing ranges.
    • Coastal invasion defences and the defence of King's Lynn Category A nodal point.
    • River crossing defences of Fenland, looking at how fixed defences such as pillboxes and spigot mortars were used to defend a strategic locality.
    • The Wissington Light Railway. A very quirky standard gauge railway that served the fenland around the Wissington sugar beet factory. Almost nothing left of this, it needs better weather to start looking for the foundations of bridges where the line must have crossed drainage ditches and field boundaries.
    • A lost forestry tramway dating from the first world war.
    • An experimental flax research station near Sandringham (period film footage here) of which a couple of buildings remain in agricultural use.

    West and North Norfolk, the great untapped resource of rural exploration
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