‘There is none who deeme their houses well-seated who have nott to the same belonging a commonwealth of coneys, nor can he be deemed a good housekeeper that hath nott a plenty of these at all times to furnish his table.’ (R Reyce, A Breviary of 1618)

‘For much of its history, the rabbit has remained a rare and highly-prized commodity.’ (Mark Bailey, Agricultural History Review 36 P1-20)

1 Introduction The

1.1 If you enter Forest Park at its southern edge, Barton Mills, and travel north Archaeology of the to beyond , you pass through a landscape which was once ‘ very barren soyle Warrens of neverthelesse very good for brede of coneys’. (Lease for Brandon Warren, 1563 PRO E 310/24/138). From the late 12th to the early 20th century, the region was noted for its warrens, areas designated for the farming of rabbits for their meat and fur.

1.2 Many of these warrens were established and owned by the great medieval monasteries or by the great landowners such as the Duchy of Lancaster. and Brandon, for example, belonged to the Prior of Ely; Mildenhall to Bury Abbey; Wangford to Old Warden Abbey and Santon, Snarehill and Bodney were leased to Thetford Priory by the Duchy. By the late 15th century, most warrens were leased to professional warreners with leases stipulating supplies to the manorial household such as that for Shouldham Warren of 20 June 1634: ‘two hundred of good and merchantable coneys serviceable for his own table’ had to be delivered to Sir John Hare on demand.

The Breckland Warrens, from The Marginal Economy, Mark Bailey.

1 1.3 The practice of farming rabbits in warrens had been introduced by the Normans and Breckland was a suitable area because it has a climate similar to that of the rabbits’ native Mediterranean: warm, dry summers and low winter rainfall.

1.4 The rabbits were a source of fresh meat in winter, but they were also a means of making a profitable income when sold commercially, especially as they occupied land which was generally too marginal for arable farming. They were luxury items for the upper classes, much prized for their meat and fur. Only those with manorial rights could own a warren and rabbits had the same exclusive protection as the pigeons in lord’s dovecote. Facing, top: Faden’s map of , 1797, showing Rabbits were farmed first of all on islands and coastal sites during the 12th century, with the warrens. records from Lundy, the Scilly Isles and the Isle of Wight from 1146. By 1253, rabbits Facing, below: were included in the list of foodstuffs taken to the Court of Henry III at Winchester for Hodskinson’s map of Christmas from warrens in Kent and . By 1300, warrens had been established on Suffolk, 1783, showing the heathland of Breckland, running in a continuous sequence from Mildenhall north the warren lodges. to Brandon and then eastwards to Thetford. They occupied the higher, permanently dry pastureland of parishes whose settlements clustered on the fen-edge or along the rivers and they were concentrated where the greatest depth of blown sand overlaid the chalk.

2 3 2 The Design and Construction of the Perimeter Warren Banks

Evidence for the dating of the banks

2.1 Since the differently-owned warrens ran side by side, they had to be separated from one another; the rabbits prevented from escaping and vermin and poachers prevented from entering. In the relatively flat Breckland landscape, there were few, if any, natural features which could be utilised to do this. Man-made boundaries had to be made The instead. To date, however, evidence is inconclusive as to whether the medieval warrens were bounded by ditches or by banks or both. Archaeology of the

Warrens of 2.1.2 In the Breckland Archaeological Survey of 1996, Kate Sussams argues that it was during the 18th and 19th centuries that the first references are seen to the formal Thetford Forest enclosing of warrens by banks and cites the 1701 lease for as evidence. This states that ‘the tenant at his own cost to bank all along the Thetford Warren side to the west end of the said borders so far in breadth from Downham Warren as have been formerly meeted parted and dolled out . . . to the intended new bank fifty roods and no further’ (WSROB HD/1720/19). It can equally be argued that this relates to a ‘new bank’ because an ‘old bank’ was already there. ‘New’ is a term generally applied in comparison to ‘old’ or ‘existing’. It is also worth bearing in mind that the documentary evidence for Elveden Warren points to its being a post-medieval creation so not relevant in any discussion about the existence of medieval boundary banks.

2.1.3 Kate Sussams uses another example, at Mildenhall Warren in 1730 where the adjacent landowner Daniel Gwilt complained that the rabbits were escaping ‘over the feeble banks’ and he obtained a court order forcing the warrrener to build a bank extending ‘from the boundaries of the parish of Little Barton alias Barton Mills South to the Boundaries of the parish of Eriswell North’ (WSROB E3/10/9.2). Again, I would argue that the ‘feeble banks’ were already in existence but poorly maintained and this argument may be supported by a further clause in the above court order which states that ‘the bank shall be kept up and maintained for the term of five years only and at that end or expiration of the said five years if either side shall not find it serviceable or think it proper for this Bank to be continued in repair any longer, then this agreement shall wholly cease’.

2.1.4 At Lakenheath, there was an attempt to enclose part of the warren in 1835 and those who held the common rights of grazing (sheep) protested that ‘ it is and has for centuries been set out by known Metes bounds and banks’ (WSROB E3/18/11.1-2). A 1649 terrier for Lakenheath Manor mentions ‘the lower furlong next the warren under the bank’. Manorial accounts for list a payment for making ‘a ditch around the new warren at the head of the village’ (CUL EDC7/15/I/8). There is a further reference to this ditch in 1333 when three men were convicted of illegally grazing their animals ‘in fossata de la coneger’ (CUL EDC7/15/II/Box1/9). 4 2.1.5 Furthermore, I would argue that to dig a ditch you need to put the spoil somewhere and that ‘somewhere’ would by necessity be close by, making a bank. Given that the perimeter of Lakenheath Warren, for instance, is ten miles and that of Thetford, eight miles, any labourers digging a ditch would not have wanted to carry the spoil very far!

2.1.6 I have one piece of documentary evidence to date which suggests that the banks were deliberately made and not just a ‘by-product’ of digging a ditch. This comes from the Brandon Account Rolls of 1365-66 and refers to Wangford where ‘making the bank on the east side of the grange and making a hedge on the crest of the same bank in wage of one workman at 3d a day for 14 days’ (Rev. Munday Topographical History). The 2.1.7 Another reference in the manorial accounts for Lakenheath Warren states that Archaeology of the 2s 5d was paid in 1347-8 to ‘make a hedge at the warren’ (CUL EDC7/15/I/14) but whether this hedge was on a bank cannot be determined. Warrens of

Evidence for the design and construction of the banks Thetford Forest

2.2.1 There are several references describing how the banks were constructed and fortunately they collaborate each other. The banks were made of turf and were from a metre to one and a half metres high, perpendicular on their inner sides and sloping to about one metre wide at the bottom. Each turf or ‘sad’ or ‘clower’ was approximately one third of a metre square (one foot) and laid in the manner of a brick wall with the grass on the vertical face. These were topped with gorse faggots tied together, often with willow twigs or by living gorse or thorn bushes overhanging the inner face of the bank to try and prevent the rabbits from escaping.

Documentary references which describe the construction of the banks include:

Francis de la Rochefaucauld who writes of a warren north of Thetford with ‘ a four-foot bank of turf sown with gorse, which forms a boundary beyond which the rabbits cannot go.’ (A Frenchman’s Year in Suffolk 1784 trans N Scarfe 1988)

In his book Norfolk Agriculture written in the 1780s William Marshall describes ‘ a fence made about four feet high and three feet thick, faced with green-sward and capped with furze, so as to project eight or ten inches over the face. (Norfolk Agriculture C79 p139). In Rural Economy of Norfolk he notes that ‘it seems to be the practice in this country to sow furze-feed on the backs or rather upon the tops of ditch-banks . . . the furze generally thrives abundantly’ (p182).

A bank built at Eriswell in the 19th century was made of turf stacks topped by protruding gorse faggots against which soil was banked, dug from where the turf had been taken, to create a solid barrier (Rev. Munday History of Eriswell ).

On Lakenheath Warren in the 1750s, the warrener enclosed 20 acres with ‘mounds and 5 fences’ to ‘make a small garden for Herbs to use in his House’ and this entailed his using ‘Spades, Pickaxes and other Iron Instruments’ to ‘raise and make divers great banks and mounds’. (History and Ecology of Lakenheath Warren Gigi Crompton). Other banks must have been made in the same way.

The Enclosure Act for Brandon (1807 WSROB HD1964/2) states that there will be no digging of turves except for ‘the purpose of repairing, supporting and mending the Banks, Walls and Fences adjoining or belonging to Brandon Warren’.

2.2.2 During her work on the Breckland Archaeological Survey, Kate Sussams organised The the re-construction of a section of warren bank. Though it will not be practical to test this construction for each and every warren bank, it is highly likely that they conformed Archaeology of the to this method. The design was suitable for purpose and made use of the available local Warrens of materials, thus cutting down costs of transportation as well as of labour. Thetford Forest

Archaeological excavation of the warren bank at Downham High Warren carried out by Kate Sussams, 1996.

2.2.3 Breckland’s only ‘building stone’ is flint and this was probably too expensive to use for walling such long lengths. However, there is one instance of the inner face of a warren bank being reinforced with flints, possibly to prevent burrowing by the rabbits and this is a section of the warren bank between Thetford and Downham Warrens. (TL82468408).

2.2.4 Professor Tom Williamson has estimated the material required to make a bank : for a stretch of one metre, built to a height of 1.3 metres, 24 square metres of turf would be required. (Archaeology of Rabbit Warrens Williamson p45).

6 The

Archaeology of the

Warrens of Thetford Forest A re-construction of a warren bank, organized by Kate Sussams, 1996.

2.2.5 Gigi Crompton notes that there is often a predominance of gorse or broom along the edges of the warrens and suggests that this may be a relict of the time when the banks were topped with gorse – possibly a good indicator of the presence of a bank, one example being the northern perimeter bank of Elveden Warren.

The perimeter boundary banks of the warrens

2.2.6 Where two warrens were adjacent to one other, each warren appears to have had its own bank and thus there are many examples of perimeter warren banks running parallel, sometimes with the space between the banks used as a trackway. See also 2.2.7 below. There are double parallel banks from south of Grimes Graves which formed the boundary between Weeting with Bromehill and Santon Warrens TL830899. Three and at times four parallel banks mark the boundary between Sturston and Warrens. TL 8745 9188 NHER 37049.

The track created by the parallel boundary banks of Lakenheath and Wangford Warrens was part of the route from Lakenheath to Elveden and was used as a droveway to take sheep to the lamb sales at Elveden (Rev Munday) .

The north eastern boundary of Sturston Warren where it abuts Stanford Warren is double-banked with the banks about 25m apart.

Gooderstone has two parallel boundary banks but no adjacent warren so perhaps these double banks could serve another purpose such as providing an additional barrier to would-be escaping rabbits or for trapping them. It is hardly likely that labourers would make a double bank if it did not have a utilitarian function, though no definitive use is yet known. 7 The

Archaeology of the

Warrens of Boundary bank at Downham High Warren (Hugh Mannall). Thetford Forest The existence of ‘Borders’

2.2.7 Gigi Crompton states ‘it has been shown that there was an intimate relationship between warren management and the land on its borders ‘and that such land was specifically known as a ‘Border’. She quotes the example of the Border in Elveden Parish which extended along the edge of Santon Downham Warren to a depth of 50 roods to the 100 acre Border in Eriswell which lay against Mildenhall Warren. She argues that these Borders evolved out of necessity as a buffer zone between warrens and arable lands but that their function changed over time as shown in documentary evidence.

In the mid 16th century the Court Leet ordered that only the Commoners could take coneys upon ‘Le Borders’ but were prohibited from using nets. By the beginning of the 18th century the three Borders were rented out for £93 per year and enlarged to become a 700 acre Elveden Warren, rented for £156.

The Eriswell Border covered 100 acres and was let to the warrener as part of his lease of Chamberlain’s Farm.

At Lakenheath, the Border area lay along the Wangford boundary and appears to have been cultivated during the Napoleonic Wars before reverting to heath. (Report of Tithe Commissioners quoted by Gigi Crompton in Lakenheath Warren WSROB).

Further research is required to assess the existence and incidence of ‘Borders’ on the Breckland Warrens.

Documentary evidence for the perimeters of warrens 2.2.8 Documentary evidence can help identify the perimeters of the warrens. Leases in particular often describe the boundaries. 8 The lease for Langford Manor in 1476 mentions ‘the conynger at the downe and clapperhyll and so thence unto Musdon lyng to Shakersweye’ (NRO PTR 1/123/12)

When Thetford Priory leased Bodney Warren in 1598 (NRO MC 569), its bounds were described as ‘begynnyng at a close called fyshpondyke on the south, part of the comyn of Bodney on to a forowe that leadeth betweene the mounts otherwyse called Copdowe hylles and from there abutting upon the weye leading from Stanford onto Threxton towards the south-east’. (Alan Davison Norfolk Archaeology VXLII Part 1 1994).

The lease for Warren in 1612 is very detailed in terms of identifying features in the landscape : first beginning at Neataway als Fowldway and so from The thence east by Arteldone Hedds unto Hallmere . . . ’ Archaeology of the

When Lord Petre and George Tasburgh exchanged some land in 1791, the former Warrens of agreed to ‘put up and keep in proper repair a proper pale against rabbits on the whole of Thetford Forest the line which is the boundary between Bodney Warren lands and those of Petre lying in Stanford, Buckenham, Bodney and Stanton (NRO MC67/52 513/2).

The northern boundary bank of Mildenhall Warren (Anne Mason).

In a few instances, part of a perimeter bank has a much older origin. The eastern boundary of Methwold Warren runs along the Saxon Fossditch/Devil’s Dyke.

2.2.9 All access points to the warren (tracks and even major routes crossed the warrens) were fitted with closely-shutting gates which were fitted with wooden sills to prevent the rabbits from burrowing underneath. The map of 1842 of Warren (NRO MC 2506/2) has drawings of these gates on it and shows that the banks on each side of a gate were ‘turned in’. Field-walking has found evidence of this on the eastern boundary of Beachamwell Warren.

9 3 Internal banks of the Warrens

3.1. There were internal banks within the warrens. These internal banks could have had various functions though to date there is no conclusive evidence for how they were used.

A legal document of 1750 concerning a dispute on Lakenheath Warren lists ‘what is commonly done on all warrens’ and includes ‘Banking making Burrows mowing The Braks killing moles. Engines Used on the Warren in Killing the Rabbets Snaring Haying The Rounding with Nets and also Digging in Rounds For Rabbets and also raising here and there a piece of earth to lay on the rains of the nets when wanted … and also using of Archaeology of the Dogs Guns Traps and other Engines as is Commonly Used To Take and Destroy the Vermin … and also Digging with Ferrits for Rabbets.’ Warrens of Thetford Forest 3.2 Banks enclosing areas of cultivation.

The warreners aimed to breed as many rabbits as possible and to produce rabbit meat and fur of the highest possible quality. In order to achieve these aims, they had to nurture the rabbits and ensure that they had a plentiful supply of food.

Two of the four enclosures on Lakenheath Warren (Gigi Crompton).

At Lakenheath, a Terrier of 1649 requires the warrener to ‘support and relieve the said coneys in the time of winter with hay and all other necessary feedings’. (Rev Munday). The ‘necessary feedings’ included Sow Thistles, Dandelions, Groundsel and Parsley and it may be that the four rectangular earthwork enclosures on Lakenheath Warren were used to grow such crops. Each enclosure is about 11 acres, is bounded by low banks of no more than 2 feet high and has traces of ridge and furrow. The banks are of sand, small flints and lumps of chalk. Earthwork( Enclosures on Lakenheath Warren, Gigi Crompton and Christopher Taylor).

Sheail makes a passing mention of ‘a haystack placed in the middle of a warren in a small enclosure’ during the winter months but gives no reference or location for this. (Rabbits and their History J. Sheail p50). 10 A temporary intake is recorded on Stanford Warren where ‘two pieces occasionally broken up and sown with corn for the rabbits’ in 1771 (NRO WLS LXI/23) but banks for these ‘pieces’ are not specifically mentioned.

3.3 Banks enclosing the lodges

There is evidence of banks enclosing small areas adjacent to the warren lodges which may have been garths for the warrener to grow vegetables or tether his livestock (goat/ sheep for milk) at night.

The Cadogan Estate Map of 1791 for Downham (WSRO B M550/3) shows a curving The earthwork double bank enclosing ‘Lodge Field’ (where High Lodge is now sited). Archaeology of the

Warrens of Thetford Forest

Transcript of the Cadogan Estate Map, 1791 (WSOB M550/3).

The 1866 Sales Particulars for the Wangford Hall Estate include a detailed description of the warren lodge ‘containing Bed Chamber, Rabbit House, Trap House and Skin Chamber; Coach house with Granary over, Nag Stable for 3 Horses, Cart Horse Stabling for 12 horses, 2 Bay Barn, Hay House, lean-to; also capital open Implement Shed lean-to ditto, open shed and several good enclosed Farm Yards’. There is also ‘near to the preceding a ‘warrener’s house’ which has ‘6 rooms and Turf Lodge, with Garden’. (WSROB HD1720/17).

Brian Cushion’s survey of the Battle Area Warrens notes that the warren lodge of Blackrabbit Warren has ‘an attached yard’.

A survey of all known warren lodge sites and of the First edition OS maps will be carried out to determine whether these enclosures were a regular feature of the warrens.

3.4 Trapping Banks

‘Trapping Banks’ is a term which occurs on a number of maps showing individual warrens. W G Clarke mentions ‘several large banks some thirty feet wide, said to be 11 trapping banks for the rabbits’ near The Gallops on the boundary between and . (In Breckland Wilds W G Clarke)

3.4.1. The only description I have found of how these trapping banks were used comes from T W Turner’s Memories of a Gamekeeper 1868-1953 on the Elveden Estate:

‘A low bank, say 2 feet high, was made as long as thought necessary. This was made of grass sods put one on top of the other, gaps about 15 inches wide being left at not less than 50 yard intervals to make runs through the bank. These gaps were covered with pieces of wood, leaving a hole large enough for a hare or a rabbit to pass through. The Then more sods were placed on top of the wood to bring the gaps level with the rest of the bank. After the rabbits had been using the holes for some time and had become Archaeology of the thoroughly accustomed to them, traps were set in the holes, the traps always facing the Warrens of way the rabbits would be coming from. For some nights a lot of rabbits would be taken in this manner, but as soon as the numbers began to fall off the traps would be removed Thetford Forest and the whole thing repeated on fresh ground.’

Trapping banks are named on the 1807 Enclosure Map for Mildenhall (WSROB E18/410/1) in the northeast corner of the warren.

They are named on the first map of Lakenheath Warren (1835) (WSROB E3/18/11) in the northwest corner.

Section through the possible trapping banks on Downham High Warren, Tom Williamson and Anne Mason, 2002.

Further research may determine whether trapping banks occur on other Breckland warrens.

3.5 Designated breeding areas

3.5.1 Pillow Mounds are a feature of warren management which occur frequently on warrens in other parts of the country but evidence for their existence on Breckland warrens is inconclusive. 12 Pillow Mounds on the Cotswold or Wiltshire Warrens are generally 10 to12 metres long; 5 to 10 metres wide and 1 metre high; they are flat-topped and surrounded by a shallow ditch.

The 1699 map of Methwold Warren (NRO MC556/1) may depict round areas of banked earth with burrow holes in them but an earlier warren map of 1580 (NRO T/C1/10) has these mounds looking more like Bronze Age round barrows. In both cases, they may be an attempt to represent burrows in the ground rather than actual mounds.

On there is a circular mound with an enclosing bank which is The interpreted as a possible pillow mound. However, there is no recorded warren here Archaeology of the and Knettishall was part of the Estate of Sylvanus Bevan. He came from Wiltshire where pillow mounds are more common so perhaps he was merely re-creating Warrens of a feature familiar to him from there as part of his ‘landscaping’. Thetford Forest

There are two flat-topped circular mounds in plantations on the former Brandon Warren, 25 metres in diameter and 1 metre high which are also contenders for designation as pillow mounds. (Suffolk SMR BRD 109; BRD 111). Beside the B1106 is a long mound 61m by 17m and 2.5m high with pines about 60 years old growing on and around it with two smaller mounds in the vicinity, all close to Spinks Lodge (SMR BRD 082).

At West Harling, there is a long mound which Alan Davison thought might be a pillow mound (SMR5755 TL94498341).

1699 Map of Methwold Warren (Breckland Archaeological Survey, Kate Sussams). 13 3.5.2. Sheail mentions that ‘warreners often protected their breeding doe rabbits from predators and the weather by keeping them in wooden hutches called clappers’ (Rabbits and their History p41). He argues that there may have been topographical, regional or even individual warreners’ preferences for clappers or for pillow mounds. Certainly, in areas where the underlying geology makes it difficult to burrow into the ground – as on the granite moors of the South-West or on the limestone hills of the Cotswolds – pillow mounds are common. The rabbits of the sandy Breckland had no such difficulties so perhaps pillow mounds were not needed. However, maps of several Breckland warrens show an area named ‘the clapper’ separated from the rest of the warren by an internal bank, the clapper being an area set aside for the pregnant does as a nursery. The The Methwold Map of 1699 (see above 3.5.1) is one example and ‘the Northwold Archaeology of the clapper’ is mentioned in the lease of 1612. Warrens of On Brandon Warren in the southeast corner where it meets Downham Warren is an area Thetford Forest named ‘the clapper’ (Suffolk SMR STN 040 and BRD 105).

3.5.3 It may be that in Breckland, there was a preference for ‘clappers’ rather than ‘pillow mounds’ and more research will be done to see if this holds true and if the ‘clapper area ‘was separated by an internal bank and was sited against the perimeter boundary bank as is the case with the examples quoted above.

3.6 Other mounds and markers

3.6.1 William Marshall describes another type of mound: ‘The way the Norfolk warreners take to destroy eagles, kites and other birds of prey is natural and simple. These birds are shy and suspicious; they like to settle where they can, have a clear view round them for some distance: a naked stump or hillock is their favourite resting place. The warreners, therefore, raise mounds of earth of a conical form in different parts of the warren, and place traps upon the points of those artificial hillocks’. Norfolk( William Marshall Chp 79, pp139-141).

3.6.2 Sheep also grazed the warrens and were another source of income from this marginal land. Sheep and rabbits are mutually exclusive feeders, sheep preferring the grey lichens and mosses avoided by the rabbits’.

3.6.3 Documentary records suggest that foldcourses were defined by stone or earth markers though turf walls were sometimes used.

Arthur Young describes three sheepfolds at Elveden enclosed by ‘thick turf walls, 80 yards square’.

Lakenheath had a sheepfold built in 1394-5 at cost of £8 (The Marginal Economy Bailey 1989 p251) 14 Bodney’s sheepcote was repaired in 1525 at a cost of 11s 4d (Register of Thetford Priory).

The complex of earthworks at Wangford Grange and on Sturston and Stanford Warrens may relate to sheep-farming.

The position of the perimeter boundary banks, the internal banks and the lodges was determined by the management practices of warrening.

4 Banks other than warren banks The Archaeology of the 4.1 Clarke records ‘There are probably hundreds of miles of earthen boundary banks in Warrens of the district. Some of those on the heathland are 6 or 8 feet in height. In some instances they mark parochial or hundred boundaries; of the remainder some perhaps marked Thetford Forest the lines of trackways disused a thousand years ago; and others are the boundaries of the ancient common fields’. In( Breckland Wilds W. G. Clarke p22). Kate Sussams in the Breckland Archaeological Survey (1996) identified parish and settlement boundaries; pre-Parliamentary Enclosure field patterns and Enclosure field patterns as being marked by banks.

4.2 Parish or Hundred Boundary Banks

4.2.1 The examination of Saxon charters by historians has led to the conclusion that many parish boundaries are of early origin and may even pre-date the Saxon period. These charters describe boundaries which were already established and stable features in the landscape: ‘Many a parish boundary on the modern map exactly corresponds to an Anglo-Saxon perambulation, which in turn may be interpreted as the boundary of a Roman or Iron Age estate’ (Oliver Rackham History of the Countryside 1986 p19).

4.2.3 Parish boundaries generally follow features such as streams or rivers; hedges; woodbanks or even the course of a Roman road. If they zigzag, it is often because of ancient field systems. In areas such as heathland they usually run unmarked from point to point with these points identified by a landmark. The Breckland meres are points where parish boundaries converge, ensuring that water was widely available. At Rymer Point, nine parishes meet and at Ringmere, six.

4.2.4 In Breckland, there are several warrens where the bank marks both the warren and the parish boundary but there is no evidence to date as to whether the parish boundary was already banked before the warren was set up. There are certainly many instances where the warren boundary was probably determined by the existing parish bounds or the Hundred boundary. A ‘Hundred’ was a Saxon administrative unit of clusters of parishes and the same challenge arises as for the parish boundaries. 15 The banks around Santon Warren also mark the parish boundary (Breckland Archaeological Survey p K Sussams 1996) as do banks for Thetford, , Bromehill, Brandon and Wangford.

Between Lackford Bridge and Thetford are sections of the bordered by a substantial earthen bank which marks the boundary of the Lackford and Thetford Hundreds.

The 4.3 Pre-Enclosure field boundary banks Archaeology of the 4.3.1 Not all of what is now forestry was formerly warren; some areas, particularly near Warrens of settlements, were permanently arable and some were temporarily arable .The latter were ‘brakes ‘or ‘brecks’ where the land was cultivated for three or four years until its fertility Thetford Forest was exhausted and it was left to revert to heath. Field boundary banks known as ‘baulks’ or ‘meers’ may be preserved in forest plantations.

At Two Mile Bottom, Clarke notes that there is a bank known as ‘the Mayor’s Balk’ which was the ‘ancient boundary of the common fields’. In( Breckland Wilds p98).

He records a boundary bank ‘called Londmere . . . between Thetford fields and the fields of Barnham, Elveden and Santon Downham and between the Liberty of Thetford and the Liberty of St Edmund’. (pp111-112). He adds that ‘this bank still forms the southern boundary of the borough of Thetford’ and quotes from a Bury Abbey Charter ‘if anyone shall be so maddened by the incitements of the devil that he determine to alter the boundaries of St Edmund’s Liberty, or to nullify or spoil it in any way, let him be anathematised or drowned in the fire of hell, unless he comes to his senses in this life’. Clearly, banks were of great significance!

The boundary banks between arable and warren often present an irregular outline such as that shown by an indented edge on the Survey Map of 1722 (NRO BL47/1).

The 1840 Tithe Map for Santon shows a linear earthwork separating arable from heath. (SMR 31217).

A case brought before the manorial court at Icklingham in 1793 cited ploughing up the grass ‘meer baulks’ and the court ruled that ‘all meer baulks which have been plowed up shall be laid down again. (Elveden MS Icklingham F.30).

Encroachment of the heath and warrens was not uncommon On Methwold Warren in 1575 a ‘newe fylde was newe plowed into the sheep course and warren’ (PRO MS E 134/35Eliz/24 East). 16 4.3.2 Conversely, arable land which had been ‘worked out’ was taken into the warrens. At Mildenhall in 1425, William Gaylon’s arable land was absorbed into the warren and he was given 18 acres elsewhere in recompense. (WSROB E18/455/1).

4.3.3 Warren areas expanded after the Black Death, taking in land no longer occupied or farmed. Brandon Warren took in ‘Oxwickfield’ which had been a breke/brake. Even as late as 1784, William Smith, a tenant of Lord Walsingham, was given permission to ‘add to his present warren in Sturston 48 acres of the arable lands belonging to the farm of the said Wm Smith adjoining to the north side of his warren bank and use the land as a warren during the continuation of his lease.’ (NRO WLS XVII/6 410) The 4.4 Post-Enclosure banks Archaeology of the

4.4.1 The Agricultural Revolution began the process of change for the warrens. The Warrens of landscape of Breckland was transformed by the setting up of large estates and while there Thetford Forest were a few with a long history of ownership, such as the Merton (Lord Walsingham) and Euston (Duke of Grafton) Estate, others were of 18th and 19th century origin. The relative cheapness of the marginal land meant that individuals who had made their money through trade and industry could buy out small landowners and erect magnificent houses surrounded by planned gardens and parkland: Mr Vincent, at ; Lyne Stephens at ; Sir Payne Galway at and Sylvanus Bevan at Riddlesworth. In fact, it was many of these ‘great estates’ which were purchased by the Forestry Commission in whole or part in the 1920s and 1930s: Stow, Beachamwell, Cockley Cley, Culford, Mildenhall, Feltwell, Weeting, , East Harling, Downham, Croxton, Elveden and Lynford. The abundance of game, notably rabbits, was an added attraction and many of these estates became famous for their shooting and the weekend parties often included members of the Royal Family, especially at Elveden (this estate included Eriswell, Lakenheath and Wangford), Didlington and Merton.

In his ‘Report for the Forestry Commission’ (UEA 1984), Tom Williamson makes the point that ‘it is important to emphasise the extent of enclosure and tree-planting in the 18th and 19th centuries … Faden’s map of 1797 shows that large areas had already been enclosed and an examination of the Tithe Award Maps from the 1830s and 1840s –which show, with some accuracy, different kinds of contemporary land use – suggest that arable was fairly extensive. Moreover, in some parishes it is theses areas of arable land which came to be occupied by the conifers, rather than those which were then heathland’ the Commission’s holdings are on land marked as arable fields on the 1844 Tithe Map and at , two-thirds of the area planted was formerly permanent or temporary arable.

The Sales Particulars for the Wangford Hall Estate in 1866 note that there are ‘about 2 550 acres being at present used as a rabbit warren .. capable of returning good interest on outlay by planting with Larch Firs’ (WSROB HD1720/17). 17 4.4.2 Land enclosed in the 18th and 19th centuries, whether originally heath or open field, displays a strong geometric pattern of rectilinear fields and owes much tothe mapwork of surveyors.

4.4.3 Such fields were defined by hedges of Scots Pine as this species can withstand dry conditions, is frost-resistant and has dense early growth which helps to prevent sand blows. These pine hedges were planted on low banks surrounding the rectangular fields.

Excellent examples survive around Canada Farm at Icklingham on the Elveden The Estate; between Cockley Cley and Gooderstone; and bordering the A1065 north of . Archaeology of the

Warrens of Thetford Forest

Canada Farm, Icklingham 1837, showing shelter belts. (Breckland Archaeological Survey, Kate Sussams).

David Davy in 1829 wrote: Within two miles of Brandon I observed a mode, to me at least new, of raising a good fence in a very bad soil; a bank is thrown up, about four or five feet high and of a considerable thickness at the bottom; upon the top of this is planted a row of Scotch firs, as thick almost as they can stand . . .’

4.4.4 Tree planting was fashionable, made economic sense and was necessary to stop sandblows from land which was over-grazed and ‘rabbit-sick’. Plantations were established on warren land and enclosed by low banks such as those shown on the

4.4.5 This enclosed land, though marled to increase fertility and reduce ‘blows’ proved to be unprofitable for arable and was often abandoned and allowed to revert to heathland 18 in the Agricultural Depression of the 1870s - 1890s. Clarke makes an indirect reference to this happening ‘When the Inkerman breck at Santon was reverting from arable back to heath’. Such land can be identified by the field boundaries and the presence of marl pits, even within the forest plantations. The Feltwell Estate, purchased by the Forestry Commission in 1929, was largely heathland divided by belts of Scots Pine which marked the edges of the abandoned fields and the same is true of Croxton.

4.4.6 Pine hedges was sometimes thickened with additional lines of pine or beech to create game cover and coverts and again these can be found within forestry plantations such as the pine belt on Mildenhall Warren. The

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Pine Shelter Belt (James Parry).

4.4.7 Some areas of heathland were retained to form ‘Poors’ Allotments’ where bracken and heather could be cut for fuel and fodder.

4.5 Banks defining trackways

4.5.1 Breckland is crossed by four historically important routes: the Icknield Way and the running north-south and Fincham Drove and Harling Drove running east-west. A network of lesser tracks is linked to these main routes and parish boundaries align with them too.

4.5.2 Former trackways can be revealed as raised banks in the landscape such as sections of the Peddars Way where the ‘agger’ survives. This ‘agger’ was the actual embankment which carried the road and was flanked by side ditches. It was built up with stones; cambered to assist drainage and then ‘metalled’ with small stones or gravel. Aggers could be between 8 and 50 feet across, the latter presumably for double lines of traffic. The line of a Roman road was often followed in defining the boundaries of counties, hundreds, parishes or fields.

4.5.3 ‘The whole of contains numbers of disconnected fragments of all 19 classes of roads…. There may be at least two systems of major and important minor roads, one early and mainly military, the other later and entirely civil’. (Field Archaeology in Great Britain Ordnance Survey 103).

A visible agger exists at Brettenham where it forms the western boundary of the Thorpe Woods camping site.

Another section is visible north of the -Brettenham road but is on private land.

The 4.5.4 Earthen banks defined the trackways in many instances though the actual route must have deviated depending on the condition of the surface and the season. Archaeology of the

Warrens of 4.5.5 Clarke gives many examples of tracks with earth banks.

Thetford Forest The Drove which is a trackway, possibly prehistoric or Roman in origin, connecting Hockwold with Roudham as ‘bordered by low earthen banks’ and near Grimes Graves with ‘huge earthen banks’. (In Breckland Wilds p127)

‘From Elveden to Wordwell, the way is clearly defined, banked on each side’.In ( Breckland Wilds p 112-113).

Northwick Way, from Thetford through Croxton, is a ‘well-defined track with a Scotch Pine hedge and bank on the west and an earthen bank with a high hawthorn hedge on the east’. (p116).

Near West Tofts, a continuation of this track has ‘an earthen bank on the west and a high double bank on the east’ and from West Tofts to West Wretham ‘has three earthen banks on the west side.’ (In Breckland Wilds p117).

4.5.6 There were networks of trackways on each warren linking the main lodge to the trapping areas and to the seasonal loges. These trackways made it easier to bring the kills back to the lodge by horse and cart. Lodges on adjoining warrens were often connected by trackways and major roads crossed many of the warrens

The main road from King’s Lynn to Thetford crossed Methwold Warren and there were five other roads across it

The main road from Newmarket to Thetford crossed Mildenhall Warren.

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Warrens of Thetford Forest Mildenhall Warren 1807 (WSROB E18/410/1).

Lakenheath Warren was crossed by at least five Pre-Enclosure roads.

4.6 Linear earthwork banks

4.6.1 Defensive linear earthworks generally belong to the first four hundred years of the Anglo-Saxon period and in this area there are three such earthworks: Bitchamditch; Fossditch and Devil’s Ditch. Their purpose is open to debate: it may have been defensive, dividing one territory from another; symbolic, delineating a border; commercial, controlling the movement of goods.

5 The Warren Lodges

‘The Warren Lodge is a curious building, almost on the highest part of the warren and of great antiquity’ (In Breckland Wilds W. G. Clarke describing Thetford Warren Lodge).

‘An ocean of sand, scarce a tree to be seen for miles or a house, except a warrener’s here and there’ (Itinerarium Curiosum Dr William Stukeley 1724).

5.1 Each warren was managed by a warrener whose task was to nurture, protect and trap the rabbits. He therefore needed to live ‘on-site’ and his accommodation had a threefold purpose: living quarters; a storage space for equipment such as nets, traps and lanterns and for the rabbit carcasses; a look-out and defence against poachers.

21 The

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Warrens of Thetford Forest Warreners near Thetford, 1905. (Thetford, A Portrait in Old Picture Postcards David Osborne).

There are two standing warren lodges in Breckland which give a very clear idea of what the medieval warren lodges must have been like, at Thetford and Mildenhall. Both look like small castle keeps or Northumbrian peel towers.

5.1.2 Thetford Warren Lodge is a rectangular building of two storeys, 8.5 x 5.8 metres, with walls to their original height and almost one metre thick at ground floor level. They are of mortared flint rubble with brick and tile and limestone dressings. One pointed arched doorway gives entrance to the ground floor; and there are five narrow window slot openings. A staircase to the upper floor had an octagonal turret, as shown in a sketch of 1740; there are four rectangular window openings, one on each elevation, and a fine fireplace. There was a lean-to structure against the north wall and two single storey thatched wings were added in the 19th century but destroyed by fire in 1935.

The SMR states ’As a substantial stone building in an area where stone and brick were costly materials, it demonstrates the wealth and social standing of its builder’ (the Cluniac Priory of St Mary in Thetford).

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Thetford Warren Lodge in 1740 (Thomas Martin’s History of Thetford?).

Thetford Warren Lodge about 1915. (Breckland Archaeological Survey, T. Burlingham). 23 5.1.3 Mildenhall Warren Lodge is a square stone building with an upper floor. Originally it had a single entrance; at first floor level are four rectangular window openings, one on each elevation and evidence of a fireplace. An additional door and windows were added in the 19th century; a kitchen range inserted on the ground floor and a lean-to constructed against the east and north walls. The walls are of flint with limestone dressings and some of the corner stones are re-used Romanesque dressed stone. Collyweston Roofing Slates were found during restoration in 2000.

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Mildenhall Warren Lodge in the 1930s (Mildenhall Museum).

. . . and in 2002, after restoration by Friends of Thetford Forest Park. (Forestry Commission). 24 The

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All that remains of Ickburgh Warren Lodge (Breckland Archaeological Survey, Kate Sussams).

5.1.4 Ickburgh Warren Lodge site is a mass of tumbled masonry with the exception of a small section of upstanding wall badly eroded.

5.1.5 A print of Methwold Lodge now in King’s Lynn Museum shows it to have been a similar four-square defensive building and it is feasible to assume that the warren lodges were built to a standardised plan which was ‘fit for purpose’ as well as denoting the high and privileged manorial status attached to the ownership of a warren.

5.2 Investigation of other lodge sites is possible because they are marked on Faden’s 1797 Map of Norfolk; on Hodskinson’s 1783 Map of Suffolk and also on Bryant’s 1824 map of that county.

5.2.1 Some site visits were undertaken from 2000 -2002 and evidence was found at Lakenheath, Eriswell, Methwold and Santon of walling sections which appeared to be medieval in date and re-used in the existing farm buildings.

25 The

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Methwold Warren Lodge from a print dated 1808 (Lynn Museum).

Farm buildings on the site of Downham High Warren Lodge - date likely to be 1950s/1960s (Thetford Forest, K. Skipper and T. Williamson). 26 5.3 Documentary Evidence

5.3.1 The existence of documentary evidence is especially important because it provides proof of a medieval date for some of the warren lodge buildings, as well as for the warrens themselves.

The Register of Thetford Priory, transcribed by David Dymond, is a rich source of information, listing repairs to Thetford Warren Lodge in 1514; to Santon in 1499, 1502 and 1505 and to Snarehill in 1510 and 1537.

Lakenheath Warren was given a wooden lodge in 1365 and this was replaced by a stone The building in 1387. Archaeology of the

Methwold Warren Lodge was roofed with 4 200 tiles in 1413, shipped from Lynn to Warrens of Hockwold and then transported by cart to the site. Thetford Forest

Brandon’s manorial account rolls give a detailed description of the construction of the lodge in 1382-3 (WSROB HD1720/17).

160 cartloads of stone One man hired for 8 days digging chalk for ramming in the said lodge Digging sand for the same lodge 5 poplar boards for making the sinkette 1 Baltic board for making one bar for closing the door

and finally

Present given to the stone masons as well as the senior carpenter, by order of the chief steward.

5.3.2 There is documentary evidence for there being more than one lodge on at least some of the larger warrens such as Downham; Eriswell; ; Lakenheath; Mildenhall and Thetford. These additional lodges may have been for use during the trapping season, generally from November to February rather than permanently occupied.

6 Warrens elsewhere in

6.1 The earliest references to warrens in England are not to those in Breckland but to a warren on a small island in Plymouth Sound in 1135 and one on the Scilly Isles in 1176, followed by mainland warrens at Connaught and Guildford in 1204 and 1241 respectively. Since establishing a warren was a manorial privilege and hence a status symbol, rabbits were soon being kept in enclosures at castles, palaces and monasteries 27 but such coneygarths provided supplies for the household rather than the commercial market.

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Warrens elsewhere in England (Rabbits, Warrens and Archaeology, Tom Williamson).

6.1.2 Particularly in the period after the Black Death, the farming of rabbits for their meat and fur was seen as a productive use of marginal land, utilizing areas of agriculturally poor soil, in places where the population was low or sparse and even where the high altitude precluded other means of farming.

6.1.3 By the 16th and 17th centuries, much later than in Breckland, commercial warrens were being set up in Ashdown Forest and Rockingham Forest; on the Mendip Hills and the Cotswolds; on the chalk downlands of Kent, Sussex and Wessex and the Yorkshire and Lincolnshire Wolds; on the Tabular Hills of North Yorkshire, in the Welsh Marches and on Dartmoor.

6.1.4 However, many of these warrens were very short-lived and by 1800 the warren lands were being enclosed and improved for pasture or cultivation, using the new 28 techniques and methods of the Agricultural Revolution. In fact, the only warrens to continue into the late 19th and early 20th centuries outside of Breckland were those on the Tabular Hills of Yorkshire and on Dartmoor, mainly because they provided the raw materials for industries such as hat-making.

6.2 The Warrens of Ashdown Forest

6.2.1 The warrens here were established in the 1690s, covering an area of about 4 000 acres, after the forest was partially enclosed and taken into private ownership. The 6.2.2 Pillow mounds are the most notable archaeological feature of these warrens, each Archaeology of the being about 5 metres wide and from 50 to 100 metres long. They occur at Pippingford, Broadstone, Hindleap, Church Hill and Twyford. A documentary reference for Warrens of Broadstone Warren states that Anthony Staples ‘put in great flocks of sheep and set up Thetford Forest many warren and made large burries for coneys within the same’ in 1690-91.

6.2.3 ‘Warren Houses’ were built but in appearance looked more like prosperous farmhouses rather than the lodges of Breckland.

6.3 The Warrens of the Mendips

6.3.1 Warrens such as Dolebury, Charterhouse, West Cranmore and Shute Shelve were established on open common land in the late 16th and early 17th centuries and often utilized the earthworks of Iron Age hillforts. A few were still operational in the 18th century, such as Rowberrow, rented out at £65.00 per year in the 1790s.

6.3.2 Drystone walls 1.5 to 2.5 metres high made the boundaries of these warrens but only a single perimeter wall was necessary, in contrast to the double-banked Breckland boundaries. This was probably because stone-walling made a more effective barrier than earthen banks or because the Mendips warrens were not adjacent. However, just as the gorse capping in Breckland overhung the banks, here too the walls were topped with overhanging coping.

6.4 The Warrens of the Cotswolds

6.4.1 These were also 16th and 17th century creations, supplying the growing Bristol markets.

6.4.2 They were characterized by drystone walls and large groups of pillow mounds. In fact, the warren on Minchinhampton Common has the largest surviving group of pillow mounds in England, both rectangular and circular. 29 6.4.3 The warren lodge at the centre of the common is now a pub (just like the lodge of Red Lodge Warren at Freckenham in Breckland).

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The former warren lodge at Minchinhampton Rabbits, Warrens and Archaeology Tom Williamson.

6.5 The Warrens of the Chalk Downlands of Sussex and Wessex

6.5.1 Here, the warrens are almost all post-medieval in date with the exception of two Wiltshire warrens set up in the 15th century. The general expansion in the 16th century was to meet demand from the expanding towns nearby and from . The warrens were an economic use of the steep slopes and thin soil of the chalk downland and, as in the Mendips, often utilized the earthworks of former hillforts.

6.5.2 These Downland Warrens were bounded by turf banks or by fences (though these were more costly) and they had lodges which were similar in construction and design to the local farm buildings.

6.5.3 Compared to the Breckland warrens, these were small in acreage. Easton Royal (1608) and Durley (1624) were each 150 acres; Hippescombe (1628) was 160.

6.5.4 As on some of the Breckland Warrens, sheep shared the grazing with the rabbits and the same practice of folding the sheep on the arable at night, to manure it, was carried out.

6.5.5 However, these warrens were short-lived as rising grain prices and new farming techniques made them redundant. By 1678, Danebury was ‘anciently and till since the memory of man a warren.’and in 1710, Hippescombe was described as ‘sometime stocked with conies’ (Cunliffe 1983, 184). 30 6.6 The Warrens of the Yorkshire and Lincolnshire Wolds

6.6.1 On the whole, these are characterized by the short number of years in which they were operational as they were not established until the late 17th and early 18th centuries and were in decline by the 1850s. One known exception is Brumby Warren which was a commercial enterprise by 1568.

6.6.2 The three great adjacent warrens of Cottam, Cowlam and Croom date from 1737, 1743 and 1744 respectively but by 1880 the land ‘ploughed, marled and manured made more per acre than it could as a rabbit warren’ (Beastall 1978). Eastburn Warren near Driffield was enclosed with hawthorn hedges in 1849 and farm buildings replaced the The warren house. Archaeology of the

6.6.3 The acreage of some of these warrens was larger than those in Breckland, with Warrens of several approaching 1,000 acres and with stocks of up to 6 rabbits an acre. They Thetford Forest specialized in black or silver-grey rabbits and indeed it was from Lincolnshire that the latter were introduced onto Thetford Warren in the 1800s. They supplied the markets of York and Hull and sent skins to furriers at Stanford Bridge and Malton in Yorkshire and to Brigg in Lincolnshire.

6.6.4 Where the warrens were enclosed (and some remained as open common), sod earthen walls were used, capped with gorse and with wooden stakes called ‘kidds’ at one metre intervals to reinforce the structure but these were recorded as being very expensive and needing constant maintenance.

6.6.5 No archaeological or documentary evidence has been found for pillow mounds but there is evidence for trapping banks.

There is, in fact, striking similarities between the trapping banks here and in Breckland. The banks were constructed parallel to a section of the perimeter bank, with holes spaced regularly along them. These trapping banks converged with the perimeter bank at one end and the other was closed off by a rabbit-proof gate. The space was baited with food; the rabbits accessed through the holes which were then blocked and the rabbits netted at the convergent end.

This method could explain the arrangement of the trapping banks at High Lodge where two of the four trapping banks converge at one point. Up to now, no clear explanation exists as to how the banks at High Lodge might have functioned.

6.6.6 Tip Traps were also used to catch rabbits on the warrens of the Yorkshire and Lincolnshire Wolds. From documentary evidence, we know that they were placed in small, turf-walled enclosures about 4 metres square.

31 The

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Tip Trap on Wood Hall Warren, Carperby (Rabbits, Warrens and Archaeology Tom Williamson).

6.6.7 Despite there being up to 43 warrens on the Wolds, there are virtually no archaeological remains as all traces have been obliterated by the machinery of agricultural improvement.

6.7 The Warrens of the Tabular Hills

6.7.1 The Tabular Hills are the low limestone ridge stretching across the southern edge of the North York Moors and the warrens occupied the areas where there were alternate bands of limestone and sandy grit. Here too they were only set up in the late 17th and early 18th centuries as areas of common pasture were enclosed, but by the 19th there were 15 warrens on 6000 acres. They were able to sustain 2 to 6 rabbits per acre but only if supplementary fodder was grown. Nevertheless, they supplied the markets of York, Scarborough, Malton and Whitby with up to 54 000 rabbits a year and sent skins to the hat-making industries in Manchester and London.

6.7.2 The boundaries of 12 warrens are traceable. Several have the Dalby Beck as their western boundary such as Driffieldgreet Warren, though a paling fence reinforced this natural limit (Rabbits and their History Sheail 1971 p47). Otherwise, a combination of earthen turf walls, capped with gorse or heather, and stone walls was used, with the turf on the more level ground and the stone walls on the steeper valley sides. There is at least one instance of an earlier earthwork being used as a boundary, echoing the use of Saxon earthwork banks at Methwold and Beachamwell. Sprainton Dyke had an extra turf wall built on its crest which was the boundary of High Scamridge Warren. 32 6.7.3 Some of the walls, both turf and stone, survive to a height of 1.3 metres but it is the tip traps- 19 on High Dalby Warren alone – which are the most important archaeological feature, often concealed within Forestry Commission plantations. The traps are circular pits, one metre deep and one metre in diameter, lined with drystone walling and sloping outwards from the base. They were placed adjacent to the perimeter banks or within walled enclosures of 5 to 6 metres square.

6.7.4 There are only three pillow mounds as yet recorded, on Hutton Nabb, Spaunton Moor and Lewisham Moor. The 6.7.5 Because the rabbits were sold immediately to middlemen, there was no need to Archaeology of the provide storage on site for skins and carcasses, as in Breckland, so the warren buildings were essentially dwelling places and in appearance look like the vernacular farmhouses. Warrens of Thetford Forest

Adjacent warrens in the Tabular Hills (Rabbits, Warrens and Archaeology Tom Williamson).

6.8 The Warrens of Dartmoor

6.8.1 The warrens on Dartmoor have been the subject of extensive research and are important for their concentrations of pillow mounds. The warrens, at least 17 number, cluster round the edge of the moorland and most include the more sheltered ground of the valleys. These warrens are similar to those in Breckland in that several lie adjacent, covering an extensive area (8 sq km); they have lodges and most continued to be worked well into the 20th century, supplying the markets in Birmingham, Plymouth and Sheffield. 33 6.8.2 However, only two of these Dartmoor warrens may have medieval origins: Trowlesworthy around 1292 and Ditsworthy. Recorded dates for the others are post- medieval: Vaghill’s lease is 1613 and a 16th or 17th century foundation is likely for Headland, Hentor, Legis Tor, Sheepstor and Willings Walls Warrens. Even later are the 19th century warrens of Huntingdon and Beardown (1808) and those of Merrivale, New House, Skaigh, Wiseman’s Wood and Yalland.

6.8.3 These Dartmoor warrens were bounded partly by dry-stone walls, as would be expected in this granite area. Significant sections of their boundaries were formed by streams such as the Plym; the Blackabrook; the River Coswic and the Devonport Leat. The Warrens on remote moorland had only isolated boundary stones, possibly because the rabbits preferred to remain where they were fed rather than to stray onto the hostile Archaeology of the terrain. Warrens of 6.8.4 Unlike the lodges of Breckland which occupied the highest point of the warren, Thetford Forest the lodges on Dartmoor were positioned in sheltered locations and therefore did not have wide views over all the warren. The lodges of the 17th century warrens are based on the traditional thatched longhouses of the region and only the inhabited Headland lodge of this date is not ruinous. The later lodges were more like farmhouses and some, such as Ditsworthy, were built of stone with slate roofs.

6.8.5 There is evidence on some of the Breckland warrens for enclosures close to or behind the lodges, presumably for vegetable plots for the warrener and there are enclosures attached to the Dartmoor lodges too though with stone walls instead of turf. Some of these are recorded as fodder enclosures but others post-date the warren. Ditsworthy Lodge is known to have had a garden and yards with walls as high as 1.7m and even a dogyard, three kennels and out-buildings for storing fodder.

Pillow Mounds on Dartmoor (The Archaeology of Rabbit Warrens Tom Williamson). 34 6.8.6 The most remarkable features of the Dartmoor Warrens are the pillow mounds and the vermin traps. The former are up to 2 metres in height, and between 25 and 35 metres long; high-backed and surrounded by ditches as the soil could easily become waterlogged. There are over 180 on the 5 warrens in the Plym Valley; 50 on Beardown and 80 on Huntingdon Warren. Many had artifical burrows dug into them and probably housed most of the rabbit population as otherwise they were at the mercy of the hostile moorland environment. These mounds were known locally as ‘buries’ and needed careful maintenance.

6.8.7 The design of the vermin traps is quite sophisticated. They were made with 5 large stones, one forming the rectangular base; three the uprights and one the capping of a The tunnel which had openings at either end and in the middle. Flat slates were lowered Archaeology of the or raised at either end, in grooves in the stones and there were small upright posts connected by wires to them. When predators such as stoats or weasels ran into the Warrens of tunnel, they triggered the wires which allowed the slates to fall and block escape. The Thetford Forest traps were linked to low walls of stone and earth, about 0.5 m in height and arranged in V shapes, which acted as funnels to encourage the predators toward the trap placed at the centre.

Vermin Trap on Dartmoor (Rabbits, Warrens and Archaeology Tom Williamson).

6.8.8 The remains of many of these traps survive but only on the pre-19th century warrens, probably because they were unnecessary on the later warrens as gin traps and shotguns became more widely used.

6.8.9 Similar traps, but made of wood, were used on the Hertfordshire warrens and the funnel features also occur on Minchinhampton Warren; Dolebury and Worlebury Warrens (Somerset); and Avebury (Wiltshire). 35 7 Lodges on warrens other than those described above

Since the Breckland warrens are the only ones with generally medieval foundations, it is in Breckland that the largest concentration of medieval lodge sites can be found. There are however, isolated examples of lodges elsewhere that date from the 14th or 15th centuries.

Norton Tower in Rylstone in Yorkshire, built in the late 15th century in the centre of a The deer park, was surrounded by pillow mounds so probably functioned as the warrener’s lodge. It was 10m by 15 m in area but was reduced to a single storey in 1569. Archaeology of the

Warrens of Dorking Warren’s lodge was rebuilt in the 1380s (at the same time as Brandon’s) but as a timber-framed structure with a roof of re-used Horsham stone brought from Reigate Thetford Forest Castle.

The pub suitably called ‘Old Lodge Inn’ on Minchinhampton Common has a tall central section which was probably the tower-like warrener’s lodge and dates from the 17th century.

Warren Cottage (1680s) in Hatfield Forest is a tall building with a single room on each floor and 9m by 4m in size. (Rabbits, Warrens and Archaeology Tom Williamson).

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The strangest warren lodge must be that built by Sir Thomas Tresham in the 1590s at Rushton, Northamptonshire. He was a Catholic recusant and the building is three-sided, with all its features in threes, to symbolize the Trinity, but nevertheless is tower-like and there was space in the half-basement for storing carcasses and equipment and it is referred to in estate accounts as ‘Warryners Lodge’. (Rabbits, Warrens and Archaeology Tom Williamson).

As noted above, the lodges on the Dartmoor warrens were very similar to the vernacular longhouses and farmhouses and the same is true of the lodges on the warrens in the Welsh Marches. These were small rectangular buildings of the type common on the seasonally occupied upland farmsteads. (Rabbits, Warrens and Archaeology Tom Williamson). 37 Conclusion

All archaeological earthworks are a finite resource which can contribute to our knowledge of the history of the landscape and how it was used in the past. They are also part of our cultural heritage and may be associated with the memories and beliefs, work practices and economic and social structures of former communities. All this is true of the earthworks of the Breckland warrens.

The perimeter banks of most warrens can be traced from surviving maps and leases. The Such maps, including the First Edition Ordnance Survey Maps, also show internal banks and the sites of the warren lodges, often within their own enclosures and with Archaeology of the wells close by.

Warrens of This knowledge means that confusion with other banks - field boundary banks and Thetford Forest banks surrounding plantations - is less likely. Furthermore, detailed descriptions of the construction and dimensions of the perimeter banks and ditches have survived, so that any bank of more than 1 metre high and 0.75m wide at the base, in an area of a known warren, has a fair chance of being part of the perimeter bank system and with the function of a parish boundary bank in addition.

Internally, three or four parallel banks may be trapping banks and these are generally about 0.75 to 1 metre high with gaps in them at 40/50 metre intervals (though these gaps may be obscured by vegetation). There is less evidence of the size of internal enclosure banks but up to 0.75m is suggested by those which survive on Lakenheath Warren.

Field boundary banks and those which surrounded pre-Forestry Commission plantations are generally less than 0.3m height. Post-Enclosure field boundaries reflect the agricultural changes of that period and are generally straight.

The broad ridges that denote the routes of former roadways are also mostly straight and in many cases are of medieval origin.

An examination of the archaeological remains and the historical documentation of concentrations of warrens elsewhere in Britain has enabled comparisons to be made with the Breckland warrens. Of the five main warrening areas outside Breckland, only two areas contain warrens with a proven late medieval date: the Wolds (Brumby 1598) and Dartmoor (Trowlesworthy and Ditsworthy 1292). In Breckland, all but two of the warrens have a documented medieval origin.

The warrens outside Breckland were generally established from the 1600s onwards; were run as commercial enterprises for a comparatively short period and by the late 18th or early 19th centuries were being turned over to arable cultivation. The boundaries of the warrens in these other areas reflected the topography and geology of the locality. The Cotswold and Dartmoor Warrens were bounded by drystone walls; those on the Tabular 38 Hills by a combination of drystone and turf walls and those on the Chalk Downlands had turf banks or fences.

Because so few of these warrens are of medieval origin, there are no medieval lodges to match those in Breckland. The warren lodges or ‘warren houses’ that do survive could be mistaken for farmhouses, in great contrast to the ‘castle keep’ appearance of Thetford and Mildenhall Warren Lodges.

The warrens outside Breckland do, of course, contain features which are archaeologically very significant and with which the Breckland warrens cannot compare. The Cotswold warrens, especially the warren on Minchinhampton Common, have the largest The concentration of pillow mounds in the country and tip traps were a feature of the Archaeology of the Yorkshire warrens. Warrens of However, this study has shown that the Breckland warrens can justifiably be classed Thetford Forest as unique in Britain. No other area has such a concentration of medieval warrens with the added significance of most being owned or leased to monastic institutions. Undoubtedly because of this ownership, extensive documentation survives which gives not only foundation dates for the warrens and many of the lodges but also knowledge of management practices.

No other warren area has such a complex and concentrated surviving system of perimeter banks constructed exclusively of turf. Some historians and archaeologists have argued that the banks are post-medieval in origin, with the warrens as open areas or bounded by ditches in the medieval period, but whatever their date, the perimeter banks are a unique feature of the Breckland landscape.

No other area has medieval warren lodges as standing buildings nor such comprehensive documentary evidence detailing the materials and construction of these lodges. Moreover, many the lodge sites in Breckland have a history of continuous occupation over seven centuries, with post-enclosure farmsteads being established on their sites and making use of their building materials.

This study has shown that the Forestry Commission has a highly significant and historically valuable archaeological resource in the remains of the warren banks, both internal and external, and the sites of the warren lodges. However, awareness of this archaeology is largely confined to regional professional archaeologists and historians and most visitors to Thetford Forest Park are unaware of its past history. While preservation and protection of the warren banks must remain the highest priority, the Forestry Commission should consider raising awareness of the history and archaeology of warrening and so increase public understanding and appreciation of an archaeological legacy which is unsurpassed in landscape history.

39 Bibliography

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Abbreviations

NRO Norfolk Record Office PRO Public Record Office SMR Sites and Monuments Record WSROB West Suffolk Record Office, Bury St Edmunds

All primary sources are referenced in the text, with the exception of any listed above.

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