Monument record KSS 032 - World War II scaffolding beach defences

World War II beach defences, visible from 1941 along the beach of Kessingland parish (part of a system along most of the coast). The defences comprise a continuous line of scaffolding and was intended to prevent landings along the beach (S1-3). Some of the structure has since been eroded away.
see backlog for further details.

A detailed gradiometer survey was conducted over a site on Kessingland Beach, covering 2.9ha with the with the aim of establishing the presence and nature of detectable archaeological features associated with the World War II coastal defences on the beach. This second phase of survey continued on from a gradiometer survey carried out in March 2017 by Wessex Archaeology; this was conducted directly south of the site. The survey demonstrated a number of anomalies associated with known World War II coastal defences at Kessingland Beach (SHER No. KSS 032). The survey has confirmed their location and suggested that they extend to the north-east and south-west, beyond the survey extents. A concentration of increased magnetic response was identified to the north of the line of scaffolding. This possibly relates to unrecorded World War II coastal defences as the anomalies indicate buried metal. These anomalies taper towards the sea as they extend north. There was no evidence of coastal defences in the northernmost 190m of the survey area. In addition, anomalies interpreted as evidence of flotsam consisting of likely ferrous material washed up on to the beach have also been identified (S4).

Scoping survey on Kessingland beach recorded the condition of the remain parts of the structure including photographs between October 2016 and January 2017. The debris appeared in two forms. First the arrangement of steel scaffold poles were in a gride approximately 5m wide with three longitudinal elements and a series of cross members at roughly 1.5m intervals. The overall length was difficult to assess. The upper section is more seriously broken and there is debris spread across an area of beach approximately 75m to the north. The second type of debris and only partially exposed at low tide are angled stell sections. They are positions close to the scaffolding poles, but there is no way of knowing if they are physically connected (S5).