Summary
The upstanding, earthwork, and buried remains of Mildenhall Warren Lodge. The structure dates to the late C15 or C16 and was ruined in the C20.
Reasons for Designation
The standing, earthwork and buried remains of Mildenhall Warren Lodge, a warrener’s lodge dating from the C16 within a medieval warren, is scheduled for the following principal reasons:
* Survival: for the very well-preserved standing masonry remains possibly containing some fabric from the C16, and some surviving interior features;
* Rarity: as one of only a few surviving warren lodges nationally from the medieval and later period that survives close to its original form and in continuous use until the early C20;
* Potential: the warreners lodge and its immediate surrounding have the potential to provide valuable evidence for the warreners’ industry and practices;
* Documentation: Mildenhall Warren has been referenced in documents since 1323 which combined with the physical remains adds to our knowledge and understanding of the warrening industry both nationally and regionally and testifies to the importance of the industry in this area;
* Group value: for its close proximity to the Mildenhall Warren Banks (a Scheduled Monument, NHLE 1485668) and other warren remains of national importance in the Suffolk and Norfolk Brecks.
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 had 1,066 acres.
The exact date of construction of the Lodge is not known. It is referenced in the Will of Nicholas Mey dated 1540 and George Childerstone’s Will of 1662, including contents and warrener’s nets. It has been suggested that the dressed limestone forming the quoins was repurposed from the earlier church building at Mildenhall.
The lodge continued to be a dwelling until the early C20. In 1934 the land, including the Lodge, was purchased by the Forestry Commission.
In 2000 - 2002, the building was restored by Friends of Thetford Forest, including the conservation of the upper parts of the walls. In 2012- 2013, Friends of Thetford Forest raised additional funding and managed the project to protect the building with a new roof.
Details
Materials: The lodge is built from a flint rubble core with knapped flint facing, some brick, and some dressed limestone. The ruinous east range is built from clunch. The well to the west is brick-lined. The roof is built from C21 timber and slate.
Plan: The lodge is a standing building approximately seven metres square and two storeys. The walls are approximately one metre thick. Attached at the east side are the ruinous foundations of a former extension in clunch. To the west is a brick-lined well, approximately 20 metres in depth.
Description: The walls of the lodge have a flint rubble-core with a knapped flint facing. There are limestone ashlar quoins. The north elevation has an arched doorway with brick dressings, and the upper storey contains a small window opening with stone and brick dressings. To the right of it is a larger, later, blocked window with brick dressings and flint rubble infill. There is some surviving external render, containing animal hair, at ground floor level. There is a course of projecting stone with a flint rubble infilled area which may represent the position of a former lean-to extension.
The west elevation contains a blocked door and blocked small window in a very similar position to the north wall. There is no render on the west elevation.
The south elevation contains a blocked arched doorway, and at the first-floor level are two blocked, large rectangular windows. Between these windows are the visible remains of a small early window with brick dressings, infilled with flint rubble.
The east elevation has no openings. There is an area of rebuilding in red brick, and some render to part of the ground floor.
There is an early-C21 pyramidal timber roof structure with plain tiles.
Internally, the first floor has been lost, leaving the internal space open. There are remains of a staircase on the inside of the north elevation, a first floor fireplace on the inner east wall and an early-C20 cooking range on the ground floor in the south west corner.
Attached to the east end are the foundations of a former extension, built from clunch, and only surviving to a height of about 50cm at the time of survey (March 2023). There are remains of a sink and a drainage channel, and remains of brick flooring.
Internally the lodge has a pamment floor and contains a late-C19 stove with a brick surround.
Extent of Scheduling: the area of protection is shown on the accompanying map extract and is designed to protect the standing and buried remains. It includes a 3 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 are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath these features is included.
