Monument record SUT 166 - A possible World War II Heavy Anti-aircraft Artillery site on Sutton Walks, Sutton parish

A possible World War II anti-aircraft artillery site is visible as earthworks on Sutton Walks, on aerial photographs taken in the 1940s, centred on TM 29704886. The site consists of four square trenches, roughly 10m by 10m, and two rectangular trenches roughly 10m and 15m in length. The trenches are arranged in a cross shape in line with the anti-glider ditches (SUT 057), with the four square trenches located to the west of the two rectangular trenches. The function of the site is not clear but it is possible that the four square trenches were gun emplacements for an anti-aircraft battery, with the rectangular trenches containing operations buildings. The emplacements may have been arranged in an unusual pattern in order to utilise the camouflage potential of the anti-glider ditches. No pieces of artillery are visible in the trenches in April 1944 but this may be because the site abandoned when the bombing range to the south of the site came into use. (S1) (S2) The site had been taken into cultivation by 1955. (S3)