Monument record BRD 066 - Lingheath Flint Mines

Ling Heath Flint Mines complex, first detailed by Skertchly in 1879 (S5). Form: stepped mine shafts up to circa 40 feet deep (S1) with radiating galleries at base (also see 1995 below). Late (?) C18 origins, last worked by `Pony' Ashley in 1930s (S2). Possibly further researched and mapped by Seymour DeLotbiniere (archive in Cambridge University). Extensive Lingheath Trust documents & photographs in Suffolk Record Office.
In 1935 Clarke said `The shafts now open are in the south east corner or the (same) area' (could relate to this site or STN 038).
OS show `Lingheath Flint pits' at TL 792 853 on 1835 1st edition map and TL 796 853 on 1981 1:10,000 map. Other maps not checked.
Two flint mines open in 1934 (S1), within extensive area of Lingheath PMed flint pits, see (S1)(R1) (& BRD 095) for delineation of area. 1934: "On Lingheath today hundreds & perhaps thousands of crescent-shaped mounds of grey and disintegrated chalk dominate the landscape. In June 1934 two pits were open - one was exhausted and a fresh shaft was being sunk by the last flint miner, Ashley". Further details & photographs in (S2). The boundaries of the Lingheath holdings are defined by double banks, BRD 130, on E, W & S sides.
For further PMed flint mines, see BRD 067 (Elms Plantation), Icklingham 091, Santon Downham 18, 21, 30 & 32, and various other flint mine sites, BRD 97- 99, BRD 134 etc.
Some of the Santon Downham mines appear to overlap with the E boundary of Lingheath (and may be earlier?) although all other mine sites appear to be clearly separated (S3).

1996: A RCHME survey to indicate the extent of the mining was supplemented by a number of small surveys in selected areas. On the south, west, and north-east the site extends as far as the tracks which mark the edge of the forestry commission plantation and on the north the surviving earthworks stop at the edge of cultivated land. The mines originally spread further north as ploughed out pits are visible within the cultivated area on aerial photographs dating to 1946. On the south-east side of the site the mines, which have now been levelled, ended at an arbitrary boundary crossing open ground. An isolated group of four pits survives towards the south-east corner if the site. No shafts are visible immediately around the farm whilst to the west recent dumps of soil and building debris have obscured an area. The disposition of the shafts clearly changes across the site. On the north-west there is a honey-comb pattern of tightly packed pits which appear as circular or semi-circular hollows. There are areas where the hollows overlap and where individual hollows are clearly isolated. Spoil is either formed into heaps immediately adjacent to a pit or heaped up into low widespread mounds. In the south and the east the pits appear as distinct 'horse-shoe' shaped mounds more widely spaced, less randomly arranges, and generally less prominent . They appear to have been laid out in ros alighned both east-west and north-south (S4).

Note four small areas surveyed by RCHME (S4).
June 1997 - Small area of woodland felled by tenant farmer prior to signboard being erected just off FE track (High Lodge to Lingheath). Area corresponds to RCHME "Area 1" (see RCHME report by Trevor Pearson). Long-term management plan prepared by Kate Sussams, SAU (in parish file).

January 2018. 'Brecks from Above' and Breckland National Mapping Programme.
Post medieval flint mines are visible as earthworks (some now levelled) and cropmarks on aerial photographs (S6-S9) and imagery from a 2015 lidar survey (S10). The 1940s and 1950s photographs show the greatest area of surviving earthworks, many of which still appear quite fresh, although what appears to be vegetation (or perhaps small structures) are visible in some of the shafts. The earthworks broadly conform to the typical form of such features: a circular shaft, surrounded by a horseshoe shaped spoil heap. Small shallower pits (or pit-like features) are evident in the northwest corner of the site (most clearly on S7); these were noted in an earlier survey of parts of the site (S4) and thought to possibly represent a different (perhaps earlier) phase of mining, but a natural origin for at least some of the features is also possible.
Since the 1950s, a substantial portion of the site has been levelled, although within the areas of woodland, large areas of earthworks are still visible on the 2015 lidar imagery and these probably still survive. Across the levelled areas, cropmarks of the mine shafts are visible (on S9, for example). How far these extend to the southeast is unclear, as the area is confused by cropmarks of probable geological origin which are also visible (although a man-made origin for these too cannot be ruled out). In the northwestern part of the site, in an area where relatively few of the ‘typical’ flint mines are visible, long linear gullies or chains of pits are visible as cropmarks. These are similar to earthwork features evident at other post medieval flint mining sites (SHER BRD 138, 270m to the west, for example), and may represent a different type or phase of flint mining, or perhaps prospection. Some of the linear features may be visible as slight earthworks on earlier aerial photographs (such as S6 and S8).
The polygon defining the site has been amended to incorporate all of the features described above. The areas of extant earthworks (as visible on the 2015 lidar imagery, S10) have been mapped by extent. No other features have been mapped. The possible medieval hollow way first identified by an earlier earthwork survey (S4) has been recorded as SHER BRD 291; possible evidence for flint mines to the immediate north of the main Ling Heath site is recorded as SHER BRD 297.
S. Tremlett (Norfolk Historic Environment Service), 19th January 2018.