Breaking News Newsletter for Breaking New Ground Landscape Partnership Scheme
Nov 2016
A newsflash for project partners and participants with news items, project updates, special features and forthcoming events.
New film “The Warreners’ Tales” Released
Flinty Find
The participants of the Archaeology Field We are very pleased to announce the release walking workshop with the Norfolk Historic of our new film about Thetford Warren Lodge, Environment Service, held at the Euston produced by the award winning Ember Films! estate over the weekend of 29-30th October were rewarded for their hard work with the It's available to view on Vimeo here: https:// find of a flint arrow-head! vimeo.com/187637282 The 10 minute short film will now be screened across the Brecks, in schools and community centres. There's also a fantastic KS2 lesson plan to go with it and scripts available in both Polish and Portuguese.
Enchanted Heath was brilliant! Our Enchanted Heath event on Saturday 22nd Oct at West Stow Country Park was fantastic, with nearly 2,000 people attending to enjoy crafts and activities. In the evening, Thetford Warren Lodge now stands the new Beowulf Sculpture Trail on the heath abandoned and forgotten, but it was once a was spectacularly lit up. 300 people enjoyed site of great importance in the Brecks area of lantern lit tours, including a performance of Norfolk and Suffolk. It stood at the heart of the part of the Beowulf story by the Wulfingas Brecks warrening industry, breeding and Anglo-Saxon re-enactment group culling rabbits to fulfil England's demand for rabbit meat and fur from the early 1400s all the way through to the 1950s. '
The Warreners' Tales' re-imagines what Thetford Warren Lodge would have been like throughout English history, telling the story of royalty, wealth, poaching and devastating fire. Please get in touch with us if you’d like to show the film at your school/community centre
Project Focus C17: Brecks Military History This project, led by the Breckland Society, has been researching the military history of the Brecks between 1900 and 1949 and has uncovered the area’s forgotten role in the conflicts of the twentieth century. Volunteer led research uncovered a landscape dotted with military camps, airfields and
The Brecks saw very early uses of tanks and aeroplanes. Newly built aeroplanes contributed greatly to the manoeuvres that ran across the region in 1912, and the world’s first tank-training took place at Elveden. The project was able to identify ghostly remains of the trench network by correlating aerial photographs and LIDAR with an existing map from Bovington tank museum. The remains of the trenches were incredibly shallow, less than a few inches deep, and probably would never have been identified by fieldwalking amongst the forest litter and trees. After World War I, tanks and planes got a lot more sophisticated. In World War II, there were a huge number of airbases across the region. These kept Britain in the war even after Dunkirk, and were essential for the final success of the invasion of Normandy and advance across the Rhine. The project also explored the camps where the 7th Armoured Division ‘Desert Rats’ were stationed near Mundford. The camp was top secret and no maps were made for security reasons.
“We overlaid Forestry Commission LIDAR images on top of the aerial imagery publicly available in Google Earth,’ said project volunteer Alan Clarke. “With a few days' work on a computer we were able to accurately locate and identify the remains of almost two hundred WW2-vintage structures hidden deep within the trees in the High Ash camp area. To The poor sandy soil of the Brecks made it ideal for army camps, military manoeuvres and airfields. The achieve such results using traditional 'boots on the ground' methods would have taken us many weeks, sandy ground was well drained and agriculturally poor, so sites could be easily established and would if not months”. have been no real loss in terms of agricultural The Breckland Society will be publishing a free production. This was important as U-boats illustrated report in time for Armistice Day which will blockaded the seas in World War 1 and 2 so growing be available on our website and we’ll put the link in wheat and potatoes on home soil was critical to the the newsletter next month! war effort. training areas; including the training ground for the world’s first tanks. This research gives an insight into the heritage of today’s military presence in the area, which includes important US airbases and the Stanford Training Area (STANTA).
‘By looking through documents and visiting the sites, we have been able to pick out many military sites across the Brecks,’ said Project Manager Peter Goulding. ‘The Brecks would have been like an anthill throughout the World Wars, with people of all nationalities being posted, training, imprisoned or resettled here. Czechoslovakians, Poles, Indians, Aussies, Kiwis and Canadians, German and Italian POWs, and of course the Americans.’
Project Focus C1: Brecks Forest Way Work is progressing on the Brecks Forest Way path on the Little Ouse between Santon Downham and Brandon. This forms part of the project’s aim to improve bridleway access—the large steps you can see being built here are actually “horse steps” to allow riders to access the bridleway more easily! Please take care in this area whilst the work is being carried out
Photo © Forestry Commission
Events Coming Up: Brecks from Above Taster Sessions: 10:00-12:30 25th Nov & 10th Dec at High Lodge and Santon Downham NBIS Heathland Fungi workshop: 10:00-15:00 20th Nov, Mundford Village Hall NBIS Fungi Forays: 10:00-15:00 4th and 14th November 10:00-15:00 Wretham and Weeting Heaths Flint Rocks Exhibition: Ancient House Museum now running until Nov 29th! Find out more and book at http://www.breakingnewground.org.uk/events
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Picture of the Month Tree Dressing at Enchanted Heath
What the Brecks Means to Me... I have been living and working in the Brecks with Suffolk Wildlife Trust for almost 5 years now, and it has become a very special place to me. I moved here from Cambridgeshire to take up the role of ranger at Knettishall Heath, the Trust’s new acquisition in 2012. I had previously spent a lot of time on a mixture of moorland, woodland and wetland elsewhere around the country, and expected Breckland to have echoes of these places. It does of course, in its mix of habitats, but I didn’t expect it to be quite so unique, challenging and intriguing; there is nowhere else quite like the Brecks.
wildlife and history of the Brecks at Knettishall Heath as one study area, too closely linked to separate as is so often done. A prime example being how certain insects, plants and ground nesting birds, that once relied on the geology and shifting inland sand dunes, now rely on the grazing and ground disturbance of rabbits, or human conservation techniques, to thrive.
Here, the actions of people over thousands of years, and unusual geological structures, are so closely linked to, and have indeed created, a unique mixture of species, many only found in Breckland habitats. This close link between people and wildlife feels very primeval to me, and creates a very special ancient landscape that is indeed still thriving today.
It is a wild, ancient landscape that sits, often quietly, tucked away in this corner of East Anglia, but once it has become part of your life or your work, you realise just how special it is, and there is no going back!
My work with the star grazers of Knettishall Heath; the Exmoor Ponies, to replicate the work of the rabbits and get the grazing pressure just right is a fantastic job, and a challenge quite unique to the Brecks. And when you get the conditions just right, As I have gotten to know this area, I have realised the sheer diversity of this biomass, and amount of the importance of its rich history and ancient roots species within that which are found nowhere else, for both the wildlife and people here. The way the is the incredible reward. landscape has changed from the last ice age, It is a privilege to be a part of such pioneering through human inhabitation and the introduction of work in the Brecks at this time, alongside charities, organisations and partners who are all working to rabbits can be seen everywhere you go in this secure these areas for the future, through wonderful geographical area. Whether it’s the remains of a rabbit warren or the discovery of flints research, educating the next generation, or conservation activities such as bare ground along the ancient Peddars way, the landscape is creation. constantly drawing you back to a bygone era.
With my work, I am constantly learning and teaching how the land use has helped to create and maintain this diversity of wildlife. The Brecks Uncovered project working with local schools gave me the opportunity to develop new lesson plans for example. Through these I Samantha Gay, Ranger, began bringing together the landscape, Knettishall Heath (Suffolk Wildlife Trust) Get your project noticed!: If there is something that you would like included in the next newsletter, please send details to Amy : BNG.Admin@suffolk.gov.uk Breaking New Ground c/o Visitor Centre, Brandon Country Park, Bury Road, Brandon, Suffolk, IP27 0SU 01842 815465 e: bng.admin@suffolk.gov.uk t: @TheBrecksBNG f: TheBrecksBNG. w: www.breakingnewground.org.uk