Monument record LCS 113 - World War II anti-tank ditch.

A World War II anti-tank ditch is visible as an earthwork on aerial photographs, centred on TM47436250. At its northern end the ditch was created by widening a short stretch of an existing drainage ditch approximately 270m long, from circa TM47276295 to TM47386273 and using the upcast to create an accompanying bank. The ditch then extends southwards for approximately 2.8km to circa TM46816087, mostly following field boundaries but occasionally cutting across open fields, as at TM47436250. The ditch was created sometime after July 1940 (S1), and appears to be quite newly cut in December 1941 (S2). The extent of the ditch can be seen on photographs from 1946 (S3). A bank does not consistently accompany the ditch; although spoil is often visible alongside the newly excavated ditch, it is not always formed into a consolidated defensive bank. The ditch has been filled and is under plough by 1952 (S4) and sections of the ditch that cut across cultivated fields are visible as a cropmark on photographs from 1968 (S5). This anti-tank ditch was one component of the anti-invasion defences that were in place along much of the Suffolk coastline during World War II, complimenting other elements such as the anti-invasion beach defences (LCS 119), and the Anti-Aircraft ditches that it cuts through (ARG 017).

March 2015. Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty National Mapping Programme.
The anti-tank ditch defence described above was visible extending as far as Thorpness Mere to the south at TM 4623 5978 on aerial photographs (S6-S8). As stated above, the bank does not consistently accompany the ditch, and the ditch was largely filled in by 1955, although small section remains open at this date around TM 4692 6087(S9).
E. Ford (Norfolk Historic Environment Service), 18th March 2015.