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The Brecks
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The Brecks is a large area of land covering part of
south west Norfolk and part of north west Suffolk. The
area is characterised by poor sandy soils (with a high
flint concentration) and sparse woodland. The word breck
derives from 'broken' land and was coined by W.G. Clarke
in 1894. As the land was of limited
use for agriculture - much of the area was historically used for
rabbit warrens - as place-names such as: Thetford Warren, Santon Warren and Wangford Warren
remind us.
Pine Trees in the Brecklands
Looking at the Norfolk map, it can be seen that the
area supports a smaller population than other parts of
Norfolk - as evidenced by the widely spaced villages.
Today, the area continues to be under populated - partly due to the creation of the Stanford Training Area
(STANTA) - which is still used by the army
for manoeuvres. The villages of Tottington, Stanford,
West Tofts, Buckenham Tofts and Lynford were abandoned
to create the battle area.
Ironically, the Brecks is now the site
of the largest lowland pine forest in the country - in
the form of Thetford Forest - which is managed by the
Forestry Commission. The forest was established during
World War I to provide timber for the war effort.
However, while it helped to stabilise the 'shifting
sands' it also unfortunately destroyed hundreds of acres
of traditional heathland and endangered species such as
the stone curlew.
Thetford Forest
Young Conifers in
Thetford Forest
The Brecks has historically been prone
to dust storms with the sandy soil blowing in vast
quantities across the landscape. Here is a passage from
the diarist John Evelyn (who was a friend of
Thomas
Browne) from 1677:
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'The Travelling Sands.......that have so damaged the
country, rouling from place to place, like the Sands in
the Deserts of Lybia, quite overwhelmed some gentleman's
whole estates.' |
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There have been a number of writers whose work has been
influenced or set in the region including the novelist
Mary Mann - who lived and is buried in
Shropham and Christopher Bush (aka
Michael Home) - who was born at
Great Hockham. Here is
an extract from Home's autobiographical novel Spring
Sowing describing the landscape of the brecks:
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'I wish, too, that I could convey to you the incredible
beauty of that vast and lonely country. For all its
quietude there was in it nothing forbidding. It had
space and freedom and the friendliness of growing
things. The heaths and brecks had their gentle
undulations so that in lanes and tracks one never saw
too far ahead. And then again there would be great
sweeps of open country. And even there the miles of
bracken or heather would have no monotony for they would
be broken by ancient woods or clusters of gnarled pines,
and mossy pools with their silver branches, or the oases
of silver sand which were the burrows of the teeming
rabbits. Above would be the open sky, and across the
clear stretches it would be hard to tell where the faint
blue of the horizon ended and the sky began. Then there
were the meres, as varying as the heath itself.' |
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Father and son writers - John and Colin Middleton Murry
- who lived at Larling -
were also influenced by the region. In his autobiography One
Hand Clapping, Colin Middleton Murry records how he
once got lost on a school trip to Grimes Graves. Grimes
Graves is the site of an important Neolithic flint mine
and today has a strange, pock-marked surface.
In fact, Breckland still has a palpable sense of
early human settlers - as was noted by W.G.Clarke
in his In Breckland Wilds (1937).
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'Here we feel in touch with man in his early days, with
all that is primitive and prehistoric....the heathland
road on which one may wander for mile after mile without
seeing any human being, seems as though its only fitting
user would be a skin-clad hunter with his flint-tipped
arrows.' |
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One of the most famous writers from the area was
Thomas Paine - the political radical whose works were
extremely influential in France, America and England.
There is a statue of him in King Street in
Thetford - the town where he
was born and educated. Michael Foot (MP) described Paine
as 'the greatest exile that has ever left England's
shores'.
The poet Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (1517-1547) was
born in the village of Kenninghall in Kenninghall Palace - the remains
of which are now part of Place Farm. Henry Howard was
one of the pioneers of the sonnet in English poetry.
However, the Brecks is probably best remembered today
for its links with the TV sitcom
Dad's Army.
Between 1967 and 1977 the cast and crew used to travel
up to Thetford and stay in The Anchor or Bell Hotels and
much of the exterior filming for the series was carried
out in and around Thetford, Thetford Forest or on the
Stanford Battle area. In fact, Thetford Guildhall was
transformed into the Walmington-on-Sea town hall.
Councillors in Thetford are currently considering
erecting a statue of Capt. Mainwaring to commemorate the
town's links with the much loved comedy series. See
Norfolk Film
and TV Locations.
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Links:
The Brecks Wayland
Website |
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Supported
by Norfolk Tourism