Monument record ELV 041 - Butts; Rifle Range

'Butts (disused)' shown on OS maps of 1928 (S1) & 1980 (S2). Also 'Rifle Range' shown on 1928 map, extending c.3000 ft to the west of the targets and bund to the rear. Not shown on OS first edition map of 1836. Large scale maps prior to 1928 not checked. In use shortly after (during?) 2nd World War - range targets shown on 1946 AP (S3).
The site of a World War II rifle range including the stop butts. The site was located in Thetford Forest, close to Parsonage Heath. The site can be seen on the 1:2500 1939 Ordnance Survey map and could have been constructed during the Second World War. At the time of the Defence of Britain survey, the site was found to have been in an uncertain condition (S4).

January 2019. 'Brecks from Above' and Breckland National Mapping Programme.
The 20th century rifle range described above is visible as earthworks, structures and a strip of cleared ground on 1940s aerial photographs (S5-S6), and possibly also (partially) on an aerial photograph from 1923 (S7). Some surviving elements are visible as earthworks on imagery from a 2015 lidar survey (S8-S9). Historical Ordnance Survey maps indicate that the range was constructed after 1903 (S10), but was already disused by 1926 (S11). This suggests that it is likely to be a First World War construction, although it could instead relate to the military exercises that took place in Breckland prior to the First World War, following the establishment of the British Expeditionary Forces in 1906. Large-scale training exercises took place in Breckland in 1906, 1911 and 1912; a map showing the location of the 1912 Territorial Manoeuvres indicates that they took place in an area between Thetford, Brandon and Elveden (S12), meaning that it is feasible to suggest that the rifle range could pre-date the First World War. The 1940s aerial photographs (S5)-(S6) indicate that the range was used again during the Second World War.
The site has been mapped principally by extent, but surviving elements of the site visible as earthworks on imagery from a 2015 lidar survey (S8-S9), have also been mapped. A bank curving around the eastern end of the range may be a modern feature. It is probable that the earthworks visible on the lidar still survive.
S. Horlock and S. Tremlett (Norfolk Historic Environment Service), 21st January 2019.