August 2015. Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty National Mapping Programme.
The area of Sutton Common to the east of Woodbridge was requisitioned for military training during the Second World War, and was used for both infantry and tank training as well as larger exercises which may have involved live artillery firing and ground attacks by aircraft (S1). The area was part of the coastal defence zone which meant that it was largely under military control. Woodbridge airfield (SHER SUT 197) was at its centre, and there were several areas of specific training within this larger zone which have been recorded separately, including two possible ‘dummy’ runways which appear to have been dug for training purposes (SHER SUT 213 and HLY 098). The polygon which has been mapped does not always concord with the mapped outline in (S1), in fact it has been extended to the south to include an area of trackways and possible training excavations visible on photos (S2)-(S4) at TM 322 453.
E. Ford (Norfolk Historic Environment Service), 5th August 2015.