Hethel Industrial Estate, Potash Lane, Bracon Ash, Norfolk: Level 2 Historic Building Recording

The survey was undertaken in response to a brief for historic building recording issued by the Norfolk County Council Historic Environment Service in July 2022 and following a Written Scheme of Investigation prepared in August 2022. The survey adheres to the guidance laid out in Standards for Development-Led Archaeological Projects in Norfolk and in the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists' Standard and guidance for the archaeological investigation and recording of standing buildings or structures (2014). The exterior and interior elevations of the buildings were photographed on 8th September 2022 using a Canon EOS 800D 24.2 MP DSLR camera fitted with 10-18mm and 18-55mm lenses. All images were taken in Canon's .CR2 format and converted to .tiff for archiving purposes. The position and direction of the photographs taken is marked on scale plans of the Hethel Industrial Estate and the individual buildings. In September 2022, a programme of historic building recording and analysis to Historic England (2016) Level 2 specification was undertaken at Hethel Industrial Estate, Potash Lane, Hethel, Norfolk (Figures 1, 2 and 3). The survey was undertaken to support an ongoing planning application to South Norfolk Council for the demolition of the existing buildings and development of a single-storey building with associated access, car parking and landscape works (Planning Ref. 2022/0999). Historical mapping indicates that prior to the Second World War, the application site comprised an agricultural field situated between Potash Lane to the west and Hethel Wood to the east. Great Potash was situated to the north of the site, and Little Potash was situated to its south. The site, together with much of the surrounding landscape, was redeveloped during the course of the Second World War to create RAF Hethel. RAF Hethel was one of the first heavy bomber bases to be built in Norfolk. Construction commenced in 1941 and was completed in 1942, at which point it became USAAF Station 114. A Second World War Air Ministry plan of the airfield indicates that the triangle of land to the east of Potash Lane, within which the application site now lies, was known as 'Defence Site 1'. Building A is identified as 'Crew Rest and Locker' and depicted as comprising the full extent of the eastern and central ranges and the central section of the western range. Building B is identified as 'Bomber Ops' and is depicted as comprising the full extent of the southern range, together with the majority of the northern building, with the exception of the modern metal-clad industrial unit. Buildings C and D were not depicted. The same arrangement was captured in an RAF aerial photograph taken in 1946, by which time Building D had been constructed. Hethel was used by the Royal Air Force following the end of the Second World War, when it was used by RAF Fighter Command and then RAF Technical Training Command. The airfield was deactivated in 1948 and sold to Norfolk County Council in 1964. Norfolk County Council subsequently sold the site of the airfield to Lotus Cars in 1966. Since then, the Industrial Estate site itself has been used for many different types of commercial and industrial purposes, and has historically functioned as motor vehicle workshops, commercial painters and other general, industrial and warehousing commercial premises. The current programme of historic building recording has demonstrated that the cores of Buildings A, B and D still comprise the original structures of the Second World War buildings, but that these have been considerably altered and extended during their subsequent use as part of the industrial estate. Within Building A, only the external walls of the three ranges survive, their interiors having been stripped of any wartime features.