Monument record SUT 057 - Sutton Hoo; Sutton Walks (Mod)

Second World War anti-glider ditches crossing at right angles, circa 150m apart. Part surviving as earthworks on Sutton Hoo scheduled area (SUT 004). Part excavated by Sutton Hoo research committee (S1). Similar to some on Cavenham Heath - CAM 019.
Also Preh.
World War II anti-glider ditches are visible as earthworks on aerial photographs taken in the 1940s, covering a large area of Sutton Walks to the south of Sutton Hoo. The area of anti-glider ditches mapped is centred on TM 293487 and covers just under 1 km squared but in reality the ditches cover a much greater area, extending to the south and east for at least another square kilometre, well beyond the bounds of the project area. Within the mapped area of anti-glider ditches a number of other World War II military features are visible, including isolated probable gun pits at TM 28364857, TM 28394839, TM 28604835, TM 28654806, TM 28674861 and TM 29344876. These features are all small hollows, less than 10m across, most with banks around the outside and are most likely to be small gun pits, although some may be bomb craters. At least 8 more of these small pit features are visible arranged in an L-shape around the south and west side of a wood, centred on TM 28704823 and are also presumably gun pits or practice trenches. A slightly large and more complex trench type feature is visible at TM 28964868. (S2-S3) This feature has overall dimensions of 20m by 15m and an internal concrete structure is visible on a photograph from 1949. (S4) The function of this feature is unclear. Virtually all of the mapped area of anti-glider had been taken into arable cultivation by the 1980s (S5) although as mentioned above (S1) three stretches of anti-glider ditch are still preserved as earthworks within the scheduled area of the Sutton Hoo cemtery. (S6)

Adjacent to the Sutton Hoo Anglo-Saxon burial mounds, E of Woodbridge and the River Deben. Anti-landing trenches dug to prevent the landing and take-off of German troop-carrying aircraft. These were filled in by the end of the war. The area was also used for military training. [Aerial photographs show the trenches immediately E of the burial mounds] (S7).