North Walsham Patrol

According to information given to us by Mr J N Tofts, son of Patrol member Corporal Frank Nicholas Tofts, the OB was located by the northern edge of a woodland on the Westwick Estate. We identified the location as an area marked on OS maps as Postle’s Corner. The OB was located about 20 metres from the northern edge of the woodland adjoined by fields. Mrs B E Kidman confirms that the OB was situated in ‘Westwick Woods’.

Mr Tofts visited and accessed the OB on several occasions and describes the entrance as having been a drop-down shaft, with a small room (annex) preceding the main chamber.

The main chamber was an Anderson Shelter. The shelter was constructed by Patrol members themselves in the farmyard at Heath Farm and then carted across the field to the OB site.

The emergency escape tunnel led off the annex and emerged about 18 metres away, running in a zigzag course. The escape passage was constructed from a number of 40-gallon drums with tops and bottoms removed and arranged so that they would form a tunnel.

The structure was pulled out of the ground and all that remains is a shallow depression. Considering that in all likelihood there is nothing left to see on the ground, and also because access to the Westwick Estate is usually not permitted, we decided not to ask for permission to see the OB site but rather to illustrate our text with a photograph depicting Heath Farmhouse (which housed the Patrol’s ammunition and explosives store in its cellar), and two photographs of typewritten letters - kindly shown to us by Mrs Kidman.

According to Mr Tofts, the Patrol’s ammunition and explosives were stored in the cellar of Heath Farmhouse. Mr Tofts also mentioned an ammo dump in the woodland near the OB site but he could not recall its exact location.