The Impact of the Second World War on the Rural Landscape of Norfolk
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The impact of the Second World War on the rural landscape of Norfolk Stephen J Nunn BA, MA A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the School of History, University of East Anglia March 2019 This copy of the thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognise that its copyright rests with the author and that use of any information derived therefrom must be in accordance with current UK Copyright Law. In addition, any quotation or extract must include full attribution. Declaration I hereby declare that this thesis has not been and will not be submitted in whole or in part to any other university for the award of any other degree. Stephen Nunn i Abstract Conventionally, historians of the Second World War have focussed on political strategies, military operations, social and individual oral histories. Despite a vast secondary literature, investigations relating to landscapes of the era, other than in terms of theatres of war, are few. This thesis brings a landscape history perspective to studying the impact that the war, and particularly the military, had on the landscape and working lives of people in one English county. Landscape history is the study of the effect of human activity upon the natural environment; how communities, agriculture, industry and commerce have changed the places in which people live and work. The landscape provides opportunity and constraint; it may facilitate or complicate human endeavour. The approach benefits from its inter-disciplinary nature, being most closely associated with archaeology but crossing into social and cultural history, ecology, geology and environmental studies. It combines the study of extant and lost standing structures with documentary sources in examining the relationships between their intended function and the physical evidence in their environment. Dispositions and networks of monuments in the landscape represent powerful evidence in their own right that aid understanding of historical processes and narratives. This thesis will examine six integrated themes – anti-invasion defences, airfields, training areas, logistics and infrastructure, country houses and agriculture – each of which impacted upon the landscape in different ways in the six years of the Second World War. It will also discuss pre-history and post-war legacy in each category, to demonstrate that there is a longer chronology that informs events and outcomes. A landscape history of the war has yet to be written and this thesis aims to explore ways in which it might realistically be approached at a regional level, as an effective way of studying the range of inter-related material and physical evidence. ii Contents Declaration i Abstract ii Contents iii List of Figures vii List of Tables x Acknowledgments xi CHAPTER 1: Introduction 1 Introduction 1 Historiography 1 Landscape History – an interdisciplinary approach 4 Rationale 5 Methodology and sources 7 Militarised landscapes 8 Requisitioning and the legislative framework 10 Conclusion 12 CHAPTER 2: Anti-invasion Defences 11 Introduction 13 Historiography 14 Background and context 15 Home defence strategy - linear versus all-round defence 17 The Coastal Crust and inland defences 19 iii The Norfolk military district 22 Local strategy and implementation 23 Beach Reconnaissance 1940 24 Ongoing preparations against the invasion threat 27 Emergency Coastal Defence Batteries 31 Beach defences 38 Stop lines 38 Pillboxes 41 Nodal Points 44 1942 onwards – maintenance, abandonment, clearance 48 Case study – Weybourne and Muckleburgh 51 Conclusion 66 CHAPTER 3: Airfields 70 Introduction 70 Historiography 70 The national and geopolitical background 73 An ominous demeanour – the Norfolk dimension 77 Selection criteria 80 Topography, soils, transport and existing land use 81 Typology and geometry 87 Airfield ‘life phases’ or chronology 91 Acquisition – an uncertain time for agriculture 91 Construction 94 Spatial relationships 98 Architecture – the prominent buildings 101 Woodland and hedgerow 102 iv Land use – perspective and proportion 104 Case studies 108 Aftermath 122 Conclusion 125 CHAPTER 4: Military Training Areas 128 Introduction 128 Historiography 128 Strategic background 130 The national scale of military training 131 Understanding militarised landscapes 132 Norfolk’s training sites 132 Two contested landscapes 134 Stanford 137 Fritton Lake 159 Other training sites 168 Conclusion 170 CHAPTER 5: Logistics and infrastructure 172 Introduction 172 Historiography 172 An integrated national transport system 174 The national road network 175 Norfolk’s road network 176 Railways – national background 178 Petrol, oil and lubricants 188 v Ordnance storage, camouflage and woodland 197 Case studies – Forward Ammunition Depots 206 Quarries and gravel extraction 221 Conclusion 222 CHAPTER 6: The country house and estate 224 Introduction 224 Historiography 224 Definition of the country house 228 Requisition 230 Historic background 231 The approach of war 233 Case studies 234 Conclusion 258 CHAPTER 7: Agriculture 262 Introduction 262 Historiography 264 Historic background 265 State intervention – the County War Agricultural Executive Committees 271 The Plough-up Campaign 274 The limits to expansion 281 Mechanisation and labour 292 The competition for land – the military, the CWAEC and MAF 295 Productivity and yield 303 Conclusion 289 CHAPTER 8: Conclusion 307 vi List of Figures Fig.1 Base layer map of Norfolk 21 Fig.2 18th Division Sector boundaries 24 Fig.3 Coastline deemed vulnerable to seaborne landing 27 Fig.4 Broads Flotilla 29 Fig.5 Stop Lines in Norfolk, with pillboxes 30 Fig.6 6-inch coastal battery east coast of England 33 Fig.7 Coastal battery gun arcs 33 Fig.8 Winterton disposition of guns and buildings 35 Fig.9 Obligue view Mundesley Coastal defence battery 36 Fig.10 Mundesley: 20-bolt holdfast 37 Fig.11 Mundesley: both gun platforms 37 Fig.12 ‘Hairpin’ anti-tank obstacles at Narford 41 Fig.13 Trench system connecting pillboxes at Great Yarmouth 43 Fig.14 Concealed pillbox, Manor House, Acle 45 Fig.15 Nodal point defence plan 45 Fig.16 Nodal points across Norfolk by 1942 47 Fig.17 View of wall section of pillbox on Weybourne beach 54 Fig.18 Heavy machine gun pillbox at Weybourne, 2018 56 Fig.19 Dispositions of artillery at Weybourne, 1940 57 Fig.20 Luftwaffe photograph, Muckleburgh AA camp 1940 58 Fig.21 Defences Weybourne – Sheringham area 1940 62 Fig,22 Troops on anti-invasion exercise, 1941. 63 Fig.23 5.25-inch gun 63 Fig.24 Map of pillboxes at Weybourne, 1951 65 Fig.25 Muckleburgh AA Camp, 1946 65 vii Fig.26 Barbed wire defences, Sheringham, 1941 67 Fig.27 German PoWs removing beach scaffolding, 1946 68 Fig 28 Norfolk airfields distribution 73 Fig.29 Airfield site selection priority criteria 81 Fig.30 Soils categorisation map with airfield locations 84 Fig.31 Norfolk airfields distribution with 6-mile fly-zone 86 Fig.32 RAF Feltwell plan, 1935 87 Fig.33 Aerial oblique, Feltwell, Norfolk 88 Fig.34 RAF Wendling Directorate of Works site plan 90 Fig.35 Modern aerial view RAF Sculthorpe, ‘A’ class runways 90 Fig.36 American construction engineers concreting runways 95 Fig.37 Snetterton Heath, August 1944 98 Fig.38 Attlebridge – spatial intrusion into farmland 99 Fig.39 Tibenham airfield construction, 1942 100 Fig.40 Wendling airfield, 1944 100 Fig.41 Bircham Newton, 1980s, aerial oblique view 109 Fig.42 Bircham Newton on Land Utilisation Survey map, 1938 109 Fig.43 Main road to St Faith village before diversion. 111 Fig.44 Horsham St Faith, 1940, early site layout 111 Fig.45 Norwich road overlaid by airfield western perimeter track 112 Fig.46 Norwich, 1945 crash site 114 Fig.47 Matlaske, 1946. Aerial view 118 Fig.48 Construction work, Thorpe Abbotts 121 Fig.49 Thorpe Abbotts, 1946, dispersed sites in woodland 122 viii Fig.50 Thorpe Abbotts, 1990s, woodland areas 122 Fig.51 Principal training areas in Norfolk 134 Fig.52 Survey working map, 1941, proposed Thetford training areas 145 Fig.53 Survey working map, 1941, alternate version, 1941 146 Fig.54 Churchill tanks near Thetford, 1942 150 Fig.55 Television interview Major General Talbot, 1965 158 Fig.56 Site drawing, proposed training area at Fritton Lake 166 Fig.57 Slipway at Fritton Lake 167 Fig.58 Breast Sand bombing range, Directorate of Works plan 169 Fig,59 Dual carriageway near RAF Coltishall 178 Fig.60 Norfolk’s road and rail networks in wartime 182 Fig.61 Dereham station, wartime extension 187 Fig.62 UK GPSS petroleum pipeline spur to Hethersett 192 Fig.63 Hethersett Fuel Depot, 2012 193 Fig.64 Thetford Fuel Depot, 1946 193 Fig.65 Thetford Fuel Depot, 1988 193 Fig.66 Pipeline map Thetford to Hethersett 194 Fig.67 Covenanter tanks at entraining at Thetford, 1942 196 Fig.68 Scimitar light tanks, 1990s 1196 Fig.69 Housing at Catton, 1957 200 Fig.70 Bomb storage, Shipdham, 1944 204 Fig.71 Bomb storage revetments at Honeypot Wood 204 Fig.72 Bomb dump explosion at Metfield, circled 205 ix Fig.73 Barnham Heath Air Ammunition Park 213 Fig.74 Hockering bomb dump site plan 215 Fig.75 Hockering bomb dump detail 216 Fig.76 Map of the three Forward Ammunition Depots 220 Fig.77 RAF graffiti, Blickling Hall 237 Fig.78 RAF poster at Blickling 238 Fig.79 Blickling, garden and park occupied by RAF 241 Fig.80 Wolterton, garden and park occupied by Army 245 Fig.81 Didlington Hall 252 Fig.82 Ketteringham Hall 256 Fig,83 Fowler Gyrotiller 282 Fig.84 South front of Wolterton Hall 1946 285 Fig.85 Hempnall, Fritton, Topcroft areas 288 Fig.86