Monument record LKH 065 - Earthwork enclosure, Lakenheath Warren

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Summary

One of four earthwork enclosures on Lakenheth Warren - see LKH 063, 064 & 066.

Location

Grid reference Centred TL 759 814 (261m by 266m) Approximate
Map sheet TL78SE
Civil Parish LAKENHEATH, FOREST HEATH, SUFFOLK

Map

Type and Period (3)

Full Description

One of four earthwork enclosures on Lakenheth Warren - see LKH 063, 064 & 066.
`TL 759 814, lies near the N edge of the Warren on land sloping gently SSE. It is almost square and covers about 15 acres. Its surrounding bank is 20 to 25 feet wide and up to 2 feet high with a clear outer ditch 12 to 15 feet wide and 1 foot deep. The whole of the N side and the N ends of the E and W sides are extremely difficult to trace owing to extensive damage by a wartime bomb-aiming point and a thick vegetation cover. The bank forming the S side has an asymmetrical profile. No entrances can be identified. There are slight traces of ridge and furrow orientated N to S in the SW corner' (S2)(S1).
First recorded by Watt in 1940 (S2)(R1).
Probably Med cultivation enclosure within Rabbit Warren.
Mapping approximate, after (S2).
Field survey as part of Brecks Survey failed to locate enclosure. All covered by natural regenaration of Scots Pine/Corsican Pine (S3).

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' and it may be the four internal rectangular earthwork enclosures on Lakenheath Warren were used to grow 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 (S5).

2010: The Breckland Society's survey of The Warrens of Breckland mentions four enclosures with low surrounding banks on the warren, which may have been for the cultivation of fodder for the rabbits (S4).
See LKH 174 for Lakenheath Rabbit Warren

Sources/Archives (8)

  • --- Digital archive: Historic England. National Record Of the Historic Environment.
  • <R1> (No record type): Watt A S, `Studies in the Ecology of the Breckland IV', Journ Ecol, 28, 1940, 43-48.
  • <S1> Index: OS. OS Card. OS, card TL78SE21.
  • <M1> Unpublished document: Suffolk Archaeological Service. Parish Files. Parish file: copy (S3).
  • <S2> (No record type): Crompton G & Taylor C C, `Earthwork enclosures on Lakenheath Warren, W Suffolk', PSIA, 32, 1971, (2).
  • <S3> Suffolk County Historic Environment Record: Sussams, K.. April 1995. Brecks Survey. SAU, Sussams K, Brecks Survey, April 1995.
  • <S4> Bibliographic reference: The Breckland Society. 2010. The Warrens of Breckland: A Survey by The Breckland Society.
  • <S5> Unpublished document: Mason, A.. 2009. The Archaeology of the Warrens of Thetford Forest.

Finds (0)

Protected Status/Designation

  • None recorded

Related Monuments/Buildings (1)

Related Events/Activities (1)

Record last edited

Mar 2 2021 2:52PM

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