25 March 2018

Warren Hill, (also known as Three Hills) Icklingham...

An area of 77 acres has been cleared to create a new nature reserve on this historic landscape.  This area has an interesting history as old gravel pits on this site have yielded flint tools made by the earliest humans in Britain (over half a million years old).  There are early Bronze Age burial mounds on this site and an early Saxon cemetery.  From the 13th century it was part of the Mildenhall Warren (where poor old rabbits were farmed by the Bunds abbey, shame on them).  The manor was included in the Duchy of Lancaster lands after The Dissolution and leased to Sir Nicholas Bacon.  In 1604, Sir Henry North purchased the grange of Mildenhall and the warren.  It then passed to Sir Charles Bunbury.  In the 1930's Warren Hill was bought by the Forestry Commission and planted with pine trees. Source:- on site information board.

The heath is closed from March to October for the bird breeding season, however the walk along the perimeter fence gives nice views across to Cavenham Heath...










The Bronze Age burial mounds (The Three Hills)....




.. and to think, I passed by this historic site every day on my journey to work, oblivious of its importance....



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