Thetford Forest

Santon Downham is a village and civil parish in the West Suffolk district of Suffolk in eastern England. In 2005 it had a population of 240. The village is located within Thetford Forest on a meander of the River Little Ouse on the Norfolk-Suffolk border. Thetford is 4 miles (6 km) southeast and the nearest railway station is in Brandon 2 miles (3 km) west.

Brandon railway station is on the Breckland Line in the East of England, serving the town of Brandon, Suffolk, although the station is actually situated across the county boundary in Norfolk. The line runs between Cambridge in the west and Norwich in the east. Brandon is 86 miles 32 chains (139.0 km) from London Liverpool Street via Ely. It is managed by Greater Anglia, which operates most of the services. The station building was designed by the sculptor John Thomas and completed in 1845. The station is Grade II listed.

Weeting-with-Broomhill is a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It covers an area of 25.16 km2 (9.71 sq mi) and had a population of 1,751 in 786 households at the 2001 census, the population increasing to 1,839 in 814 households at the 2011 Census. The area of the parish includes the village of Weeting. For the purposes of local government, it falls within the district of Breckland. The parish covers the area to the north of Brandon. The parish contains a neolithic site known as Grimes Graves. This is an extensive system of stone-age flint mines. Now a scheduled monument looked after by English Heritage.

Brandon is a town and civil parish in the English county of Suffolk. Brandon is located in the Breckland area of Suffolk, close to the adjoining county of Norfolk. Surrounded by Forestry Commission and agricultural land, it is considered a rural town.

Thetford Rural District was a rural district in Norfolk, England from 1894 to 1935.It was formed under the Local Government Act 1894 based on the Thetford rural sanitary district. It covered the lands which were in Norfolk and lay to the north and east of Thetford Municipal Borough. In 1902 it took in the western part of the disbanded Guiltcross Rural District,. In 1935, Thetford RD was abolished and its territory divided between Downham, Swaffham and Wayland RDs.

Grime's Graves is a large Neolithic flint mining complex in Norfolk, England. It lies 8 km (5.0 mi) north east from Brandon, Suffolk in the East of England. It was worked between c. 2600 and c. 2300 BC, although production may have continued well into the Bronze and Iron Ages (and later) owing to the low cost of flint compared with metals. Flint was much in demand for making polished stone axes in the Neolithic period. Much later, when flint had been replaced by metal tools, flint nodules were in demand for other uses, such as for building and as strikers for muskets. Grime's Graves was first extensively explored by the 19th-century archaeologist William Greenwell. The scheduled monument extends over an area of some 37 ha (91 acres) and consists of at least 433 shafts dug into the natural chalk to reach seams of flint. The largest shafts are more than 14 m (46 ft) deep and 12 m (39 ft) in diameter at the surface. It has been calculated that more than 2,000 tonnes of chalk had to be removed from the larger shafts, taking 20 men around five months, before stone of sufficient quality was reached. An upper 'topstone' and middle 'wallstone' seam of flint was dug through on the way to the deeper third 'floorstone' seam which most interested the miners. The site is managed by English Heritage and can be visited. The site is also a biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Geological Conservation Review site. It is part of the Breckland Special Area of Conservation and Special Protection Area.

Weeting Castle is a ruined, medieval manor house near the village of Weeting in Norfolk, England. It was built around 1180 by Hugh de Plais, and comprised a three-storey tower, a substantial hall, and a service block, with a separate kitchen positioned near the house. A moat was later dug around the site in the 13th century. The house was not fortified, although it drew on architectural features typically found in castles of the period, and instead formed a very large, high-status domestic dwelling. It was probably intended to resemble the hall at Castle Acre Castle, owned by Hugh's feudal lord, Hamelin de Warenne. Weeting Castle ceased to be used in the late 14th century and fell into decay. The ruins formed an ornamental feature in the grounds of nearby Weeting Hall from 1770 onwards, and passed into the ownership of the state in 1926 when the government acquired the surrounding estate. The site is now managed by English Heritage and open to visitors.

Brandon Country Park is a country park in Brandon, Suffolk, England.

Weeting is a village in Norfolk, England. The population can be found in the civil parish of Weeting-with-Broomhill. The villages name means 'wet place'.

Lynford is a village and civil parish in the Breckland District of Norfolk. The parish covers an area of 24.72 km2 (9.54 sq mi), and the 2001 Census recorded a population of 157 in 81 households. Lynford lies 4 miles (6.4 km) north east of Brandon and between Mundford, 2 miles (3.2 km) to the north west, and Thetford, 6.5 miles (10.5 km) to the south east, on the A134. It lies deep within Breckland forestry land between the Stanford Battle Area and Thetford Forest. Lynford is served by Our Lady of Consolation and Saint Stephen chapel of ease joined to Saint Mary's Catholic Church, Thetford.Lynford Hall, which is actually closer to Mundford, was rebuilt in the 19th century by Stephens Lyne-Stephens who was known as the richest commoner in England. The hall is now a hotel and conference centre. Lynford Arboretum and Lakes, formerly part of Lynford Hall estate, is now owned by the Forestry Commission.Grimes Graves, the only Neolithic flint mine open to visitors in Great Britain, lie a mile to the south. Lynford Quarry is one of only two sites on mainland Britain which has evidence of Neanderthal occupation.

Santon is a depopulated village located near Santon Downham in Norfolk, England. Moated earthworks and other remains of the medieval village are a scheduled monument.The villages name means 'Sandy farm/settlement'. The village church of All Saints' was rebuilt from ruins in the 17th century by Thomas Bancrofte, the sole parishioner at that time.The site is adjacent to the Forestry Commission's St Helen's picnic site.

London Road Industrial Estate, Brandon is a 0.1 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Brandon in Suffolk.This very small meadow in the middle of an industrial estate has been designated an SSSI because it has the largest known wild population in Britain of the nationally rare Artemisia campestris, which is thought to have survived due to periodic soil disturbance.There is access to the site by a stile.