Monument record HLY 115 - Two World War II gun emplacements.

Two 6" gun emplacements thought to be a beach defence battery manned by the 10/1 super heavy Regt (S1).

Each gun emplacement contains its own sunken command post / crew shelter and ammunition lockers as well as lockers in the gun pit itself. The first reference for the emplacements is from 1941, manned by a detachment from 10 / 1st Super Heavy Regt. The task of the guns was to enfilade the beaches and cover the entrance to the Deben Estuary. Both gun positions are also overgrown to some extent, one much more than the other (S2).

Two substantial gun positions in Hollesley Common, with the Holdfasts for Naval 4" Mark 3 QF guns. Each emplacement is rectangular and contains solidly built crew-shelters and magazines, sunk into the ground with blast walls. The holdfast is at one end with an oddly shaped cutout in the apron. The positions are end on to each other, suggesting the guns would have fired broadside (S3).

October 2015. Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty National Mapping Programme.
The gun emplacements described above are visible on aerial photographs (S4)-(S8) and have a further circular structure added to them by 1962 (S6). It is likely that this site was the field artillery site on Hollesley Common classified as ‘Det 1 Super Hvy Regt, 2 - 6 inch Naval guns’, depicted in (S9), which made up part of the ‘coastal crust’ field artillery defensive sites. Three other sites have been recognised in this area which may potentially belong to this field artillery group (SHER HLY 142, SUT 244 and SUT 245). The gunhouses have been recorded as still surviving in part (S6, p.30)
Another possible gun battery has been recorded to the east as SHER HLY 133.
E. Ford (Norfolk Historic Environment Service), 28th October 2015.