Monument record LKH 064 - Earthwork enclosure, Lakenheath Warren

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Summary

One of four earthwork enclosures on Lakenheath Warren - also see LKH 063, 065, 066.

Location

Grid reference Centred TL 763 801 (235m by 244m) Approximate
Map sheet TL78SE
Civil Parish LAKENHEATH, FOREST HEATH, SUFFOLK

Map

Type and Period (3)

Full Description

One of four earthwork enclosures on Lakenheath Warren - also see LKH 063, 065, 066.
`TL 763 801. Slightly trapezoidal enclosure of about 11 acres bounded by a bank 25 to 30 feet wide and little more than 1.5 feet high with no trace of an entrance or external ditch' (S1). Slight traces of N-S ridge and furrow on interior on similar alignment. Also some small sherds of Med pottery, probably C12 to C13, picked up on surface within the SE corner (LKH 402)(S1)(S2).
First recorded by Watt in 1940 (S2)(R1).
Circa 1945: in open landscape - area of wind-blown sand on RAF AP.
1995: field survey as part of Brecks Survey failed to locate enclosure. Thick grass heath and semi-formal Scots Pine plantation/regrowth. No sign of edges of enclosure outside plantation (S3).
1999: heavily tree covered (see AP).

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).

Feb 2013: visited (EM & CP) - trees now cleared, completely flat open ground and absolutely no trace of earthworks, - suggests tree clearance included destumping and levelling and removal of earthworks!
Probably Med cultivation enclosure within rabbit warren for foodstuffs for warrener or more likely rabbits.
Mapping approximate after (S2).

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

(See LKH 402 for Medieval pottery sherd found in corner of enclosure, previously recorded under LKH 064)

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', Jour 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 (3)

Record last edited

Mar 2 2021 2:53PM

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