Summary
The earthworks and buried remains of the eastern and northern boundary banks of Mildenhall Warren, dating from the C14 or earlier.
Reasons for Designation
The earthworks and buried remains of the eastern and northern boundary banks of Mildenhall Warren are scheduled for the following principal reasons:
* Survival: the northern and eastern boundary banks including remains of trapping banks, survive well as upstanding earthworks and buried remains;
* Period: although one of a considerable number of monuments characteristic of the medieval period, the remains of the warren demonstrate the wealth and standing of the owners, Bury St Edmunds Abbey and later secular estates, and the importance of the warrening industry to the area;
* Diversity: the boundary bank earthworks, linked trapping banks and the related warreners lodge, provide a rich diversity of features which collectively have the potential to enhance our understanding of the site’s foundation, use and decline;
* Potential: the boundary banks will retain important environmental and artefactual evidence to inform our understanding of medieval and post-medieval rabbit farming;
* Documentation: the site is well documented both through historical documents and aerial photography, LiDAR imagery and recent survey work which has contributed to our understanding of the warren and its impact on the medieval and later agricultural economy of East Anglia;
* Group value: the remains have a strong functional and historical relationship with the standing remains of Mildenhall Warren Lodge, (a Scheduled Monument, NHLE 1006023), while its grouping with other well-preserved boundary banks in the Suffolk and Norfolk Brecks, including Thetford, Downham High Warren and Santon Downham Warren (all scheduled), provide important evidence on the social and economic standing of ecclesiastical and secular estates during the medieval and post-medieval periods, one which saw the exploitation and management of the Breckland landscape for a warrening industry that spanned some 600 years.
History
Warrens were an area of land set aside for the breeding and management of rabbits (or ‘coneys’) in order to provide a constant supply of fresh meat and skins. The practice of rearing rabbits was introduced to southern England by the Normans in around 1100 and soon spread to almost every part of the country. As only those with manorial rights could own a warren, early examples were mostly associated with the higher levels of society. The earliest written source is a grant of land to Plympton Priory, cum cuniculi (with rabbits), in 1135 and Henry III established one of the first mainland warrens at Guildford in 1235. However, they gradually spread in popularity, with the C14 and C15 seeing a broader adoption of warrens, including some substantial enterprises by religious houses, and by the C16 and C17 they were a common feature on most manors and estates throughout the country. Warrens continued in use until fairly recent times, finally declining in the face of C19 and C20 changes in agricultural practice, and the onset of myxomatosis in 1954.
Warrens in the Norfolk and Suffolk Brecklands, of which 26 have been identified by the Breckland Society as part of a research project undertaken between 2008 and 2010 (see Sources), lie within an area north from Barton Mills to Brandon and then east to Thetford. The earliest were established from the late C12 by monastic houses or wealthy landowners.
Experiencing a climate not too dissimilar to that of the rabbits’ native Mediterranean, namely warm, dry summers and low rainfall in winter, the Breckland warrens occupied the higher, permanently dry pastureland of parishes whose settlements clustered along the natural boundary between heathland and fen, or along rivers. To contain and protect the stock, and limit predation and poaching, the warrens were enclosed by banks made of turves which measured up to 2m high and 12m wide and were vertical on their inner faces and sloped on their outer faces. Each turf, also called a ‘sad’ or ‘clower’, were laid in the manner of a brick wall with the grass on the outer face. Once constructed, the banks were either topped with bundles of gorse twigs or planted with gorse or thorn bushes, to try and prevent the rabbits from escaping. If two warrens were placed side-by-side, such as Thetford and Santon Downham Warrens, each had its own bank with the space between used as a trackway known as a border. Some of the banks, including those at Brandon, Broomhill/Weeting, Santon, Thetford and Wangford Warrens, were also used to delineate parish boundaries. Within the warren itself, further banks were constructed to serve particular functions. Since the warreners aimed to breed as many rabbits as possible and to produce rabbit meat and fur of the highest possible quality, internal enclosures on some of the warrens may have been used to grow crops to provide additional feed for the rabbits, while enclosures known as ‘the clapper’ were used for segregating the breeding does. Linear banks with funnelled ends, known as trapping banks, were also constructed parallel to the warren banks to ensnare rabbits for selective culling. Larger warrens were also associated with a lodge. As well as providing living accommodation for the warrener they were also used to store trapping equipment and carcasses and act as a lookout and defence against poachers.
After the Dissolution of the Monasteries (1536-1541), the Breckland warrens passed to lay landowners, often as part of an estate purchased as monastic lands were sold off. However, they mostly continued to function as working warrens until the late-C18, sustaining two fur-processing factories at Brandon and short-lived premises in Thetford and Swaffham. The annual cull on many of the warrens during the C18 ran to over 20,000 animals, with the meat being sent up to London and to the Cambridge colleges, as well as to markets locally. The fur was despatched to Luton, for use in the hat industry, but also to Europe and as far afield as South America. Lakenheath was one of the last working warrens and survived until 1940. The best-preserved Breckland warrens now lie within Thetford Forest which, now covering an area of some 47,000 acres, was established from 1922 to sustain the nation’s dwindling supply of timber resource after the First World War.
The first documented reference to Mildenhall Warren is in 1323, when Bury Abbey recorded income from it. After the Dissolution it was owned consecutively by the Bacon, North and Bunbury families. The 1807 Enclosure Map for Mildenhall Parish shows the warren included 1,066 acres.
Details
PRINCIPAL ELEMENTS
The site comprises the earthwork and buried remains of the perimeter and trapping banks of Mildenhall Warren, first recorded in 1323. It lies within Thetford Forest on the northern boundary of Mildenhall Woods and the northern and eastern boundary of Twelve Acre Woods and follows the boundary between the parishes of Mildenhall and Eriswell. Many of the banks survive as earthworks visible above ground, occasionally up to a metre high. In some areas the banks are not discernible on the ground but are shown to survive through Lidar imaging.
DESCRIPTION
Mildenhall Warren was laid out with boundary banks in an irregular, but roughly triangular shape, a little to the north of the River Lark, and immediately south of Eriswell Warren. The perimeter banks originally extended for a length of approximately 9.15 km and enclosed an area approximately 447 hectares, but the surviving banks described here are only those to the north-east and east, in two continuous sections. The rest of the banks, and the interior of the warren, were not considered as part of this assessment (2023). The warren lodge is a separate scheduled monument (NHLE 1006023).
The following description will describe the banks starting from the south-east:
The first continuous section runs from TL7476675725 by the edge of a track. The bank is approximately 50cm high rising to 75cm high further north-east, and is approximately 10m wide. It extends north-eastwards for approximately 440m, following the parish boundary line between Mildenhall and Icklingham. The earthworks become more easily discernable further north-east.
At TL7511475993 the bank turns a corner north-westward and follows the line of the parish boundary between Mildenhall and Eriswell for approximately 400m. In some places the bank is as much as 12m wide, and there are possible traces of a double bank. The rest of the banks all follow exactly Mildenhall and Eriswell parish boundary.
At TL7483776308 the bank turns a corner towards the south-west, and continues for approximately 198m, where it ends at TL7465276213.
Another bank begins at TL7465576298 to the north-west, parallel at first to the eastern bank at a distance of approximately 40 metres, and may represent a trapping area. The western bank extends south-westwards for a distance of 178m, still following the Eriswell parish boundary line, and varies between 9 and 12m wide. The bank turns north-westwards for approximately 280m. From this point it is slightly flattened and the track runs on top of it for the remainder of its extent. At TL7438076482 the track extends south-westwards for approximately 1550m, where it splits into two separate banks approximately 170m in length, these were likely to have been trapping banks.
EXTENT OF SCHEDULING
The area of protection is shown on the accompanying map extract and is designed to protect the known extent of the earthworks and buried remains of the northern and eastern boundary banks of Mildenhall Warren, including linked trapping banks. It includes a 5 metre boundary around the monument, which is considered to be essential for its support and preservation.
EXCLUSIONS
All fences, fences posts and metalled surfaces within the scheduled area are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath these features is included.
