Battle of Ringmere

East Wretham Mill is a tower mill at East Wretham, Norfolk, England which has been converted to residential accommodation.

Stonebridge is a village in the English county of Norfolk. It is situated on the A1075 road, some 6 miles (9.7 km) north east of the town of Thetford and 25 miles (40 km) south west of the city of Norwich. The village forms part of the civil parish of Wretham , which in turn falls within the district of Breckland.[1]

Wretham and Hockham railway station was a station in Norfolk serving the villages of Wretham and Hockham. It was on the Great Eastern Railway branch line between Swaffham and Thetford. The station was opened for goods traffic on 28 January 1869 and for passengers on 18 October 1869. It closed in 1964.

Great Eastern Pingo Trail is 9.2 kilometres (5.7 miles) long footpath along a disused railway line north of Thetford in Norfolk. It is a 4.2-hectare (10-acre) Local Nature Reserve, and it crosses three Sites of Special Scientific Interest, Thompson Water, Carr and Common, Breckland Forest and Cranberry Rough, Hockham. It also crosses Thompson Common, which is a nature reserve managed by the Norfolk Wildlife Trust and is a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I. It further crosses Norfolk Valley Fens Special Area of Conservation and Breckland Special Protection Area. This site has around 300 pingos, shallow pools formed when ice melted at the end of the last ice age. There is a mosaic of habitats with a large lake, Thompson Water, at the western end.

Thompson Water, Carr and Common is a 154.7-hectare (382-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest north of Thetford in Norfolk. Most of it is managed by the Norfolk Wildlife Trust as Thompson Common. It is a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I, and part of the Norfolk Valley Fens Special Area of Conservation. It is crossed by the Great Eastern Pingo Trail Local Nature Reserve. This grassland site in the valley of a tributary of the River Wissey has a number of pingos, damp and water filled depressions formed by the melting of ice at the end of the last glaciation. It also has a lake called Thompson Water which, together with its surrounding reedswamp, is important for breeding birds. The site is open to the public.

Cranberry Rough is an 81.1-hectare (200-acre) biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in the parish of Hockham, east of Attleborough in Norfolk. It is a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade 2, and the Great Eastern Pingo Trail, which is a Local Nature Reserve, goes through the site. Part of it is a Geological Conservation Review site, and it is part of the Breckland Special Protection Area. The area is the site of a former lake known as Hockham Mere, which was drained and dried up by the middle of the 18th century. It has swamp woodland, grassland, tall fen and a network of ditches and pools, with a diverse range of wetland plants and insects, especially butterflies, dragonflies and damselflies. Large areas are covered with sphagnum mosses. Its biogenic sediments contain a late-Devensian & Holocene pollen record.

Illington is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Wretham in the Breckland district, in the county of Norfolk, England. The village is 6.2 miles north east of Thetford, 24 miles west south west of Norwich and 92.3 miles north east of London. The nearest railway station is at Thetford for the Breckland Line which runs between Cambridge and Norwich. The nearest airport is Norwich International Airport. In 1931 the parish had a population of 53. On 1 April 1935 the parish was abolished to form Wretham.

Great Hockham is a village in the English county of Norfolk within the civil parish of Hockham, though the distinction between village and parish may now be moot as there is evidence to suggest that the other village in the parish, Little Hockham, consists only of a farmhouse. The village lies 8 miles (13 km) north east of Thetford and 24 miles (39 km) by road south west from Norwich. It is served by Holy Trinity church in the Benefice of Wayland Group.

Hockham is a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It covers an area of 13.36 km2 (5.16 sq mi) and had a population of 620 in 252 households at the 2001 census. For the purposes of local government, it falls within the district of Breckland. The district's 2007/08 estimate suggests that the population had risen to 645. At the 2011 Census the population was measured at 603 only in 259 households. The parish is sometimes referred to as Great Hockham, the main village, though there is evidence that suggests that the village of Little Hockham is now deserted.

Roudham is a small settlement and former civil parish, now in the parish of Roudham and Larling, in the Breckland district, in the county of Norfolk, England. It was once home to Roudham Junction railway station. There are remains of a medieval settlement. Today, East Harling is home to St George's Distillery, the oldest actual single malt whisky distillery in England. The parish is centred round the ruinous church remains of St Andrew's Church; the church was abandoned in 1736 after a destructive fire. Although it remains to this day with all the walls remaining at their original height, the structure of the building is very weak. The church remains a significant monument in the landscape, however due to its weak condition, it has had to be cordoned off due to the danger of it collapsing. Negotiations for the repair of the church are in progress.

Thompson is a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It covers an area of 9.20 km2 (3.55 sq mi) and including Tottington had a population of 341 in 147 households at the 2001 census, increasing to 343 in 155 households at the 2011 Census. For the purposes of local government, the parish falls within the district of Breckland. Thompson is a relatively secluded village, located amongst acres of woodland, with the nearest town being Watton. In this region the name Thompson is believed to have Danish origins, as it was part of the Danelaw after centuries of invasion. The village is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Tomesteda and Tomestuna.

Breckland in Norfolk and Suffolk is a 39,433 hectare Special Protection Area (SPA) under the European Union Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds. The SPA partly overlaps the 7,544 hectare Breckland Special Area of Conservation. As a landscape region it is an unusual natural habitat of England. It comprises the gorse-covered sandy heath that lies mostly in the south of the county of Norfolk but also in the north of Suffolk. An area of considerable interest for its unusual flora and fauna, it lies to the east of another unusual habitat, the Fens, and to the south west of the Broads. The typical tree of this area is the Scots pine. Breckland is one of the driest areas in England. The area of Breckland has been substantially reduced in the twentieth century by the impact of modern farming and the creation in 1914 of Thetford Forest. However substantial areas have been preserved, not least by the presence of the British Army on the Stanford Battle Area. During the Prehistoric period Breckland was mined for flint, evidence for which can be found at Grimes Graves just outside Thetford in Norfolk. The word 'Breck' is medieval and was defined as being an area of heathland broken up for cultivation before being allowed to retreat back into wilderness. Up until 200 years ago, much of it consisted of open heathland. The Brecks today are a tourist attraction as well as an area of scientific and geographical interest. The Breckland landscape region has given its name to Breckland District, a local government district that contains most of Norfolk's portion of the Breckland. Part of West Suffolk district cover the Suffolk portion. The Great Eastern Pingo Trail is 8 miles of tracks and paths exploring the eastern edge of the Breckland area. The trail takes in the commons at the villages of Thompson and Stow Bedon, and heathland at Breckles and Great Hockham. Thompson Water, an artificial lake, and the woodland at Thompson Carr also form part of the walk. The name of the trail comes from the former Great Eastern Railway and the large number of pingo ponds found in the area. Pingo ponds or kettle lakes are formed from collapsed mound of earth-covered ice, called pingos, formed when the ice-sheets retreated. The trail may be accessed as a detour from the Peddars Way long-distance footpath. It is a Local Nature Reserve.