Monument record LCS 186 - Site of Second World War (and/or possibly First World War) military training site, Leiston Common

January 2015. Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty National Mapping Programme.
The site of a Second World War (and/or possibly First World War) military training site on Leiston Common is visible as earthworks and barbed wire on 1940s aerial photographs (S1)-(S2). The clearest elements (a series of practice trenches and a line of barbed wire) have been mapped; a line of short, ‘W’ or ‘V’-shaped slit trenches has been mapped by extent. Additional pits and further possible practice trenches are also visible. By 1946 many of the features, and particularly the slit trenches, seem very overgrown, and it is possible that some could date to the First World War; however, they could instead date from the early years of the Second World War, and there are definite signs of recent activity on the 1944 aerial photographs. A Second World War Auxiliary Unit Operational Base (LCS 184) and Diver battery (LCS 185) were also sited on Leiston Common; the construction of the latter in 1944 may have brought training activity on the common to an end. It is possible that some elements of the site still survive, although no evidence of this has been identified on the aerial photographs.
S. Tremlett (Norfolk Historic Environment Service), 30th January 2015.