East Wretham Windmill

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.

The Battle of Ringmere was fought on 5 May 1010. Between an East Anglian contingent led by Ulfcytel Snillingr and a danish army under Thorkell the Tall Norse sagas recorded a battle at Hringmaraheiðr; Old English Hringmere-hǣð, modern name Ringmere Heath. In his Víkingarvísur, the poet Sigvat records the victory of Saint Olaf, fighting alongside King Ethelred Yet again Óláfr caused a sword-assembly [BATTLE] to be held for the seventh time in Ulfcytel’s land, as I recount the tale. The offspring of Ælla [= Englishmen] stood over all Ringmere Heath; there was slaying of the army there, where the guardian of Haraldr’s inheritance [= Óláfr] caused exertion. John of Worcester records that the Danes defeated the Saxons. Over a three-month period the Danes wasted East Anglia, burning Thetford and Cambridge.

Wretham ( RET-əm) is a civil parish in the Breckland district of Norfolk, England. The parish includes the village of East Wretham, which is about 6 miles (10 km) northeast of Thetford and 25 miles (40 km) southwest of Norwich. It also includes the villages of Illington and Stonebridge. The parish has an area of 32.25 km2 (12.45 sq mi). The 2011 Census recorded a parish population of 374 people in 141 households.

Royal Air Force East Wretham or more simply RAF East Wretham is a former Royal Air Force station located 6 miles (9.7 km) northeast of Thetford, Norfolk, England.

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.

Roudham Junction railway station was a station in Norfolk, England. It was located in a remote area east of Thetford, where the Main Line between Norwich and Thetford joined the branch line from Swaffham. Today a few remnants of the former station can be glimpsed from the passing trains. Six years after the GER was formed, work started on a branch line from the Ely to Norwich line towards Swaffham, leaving the main line at Roudham. The station opened, along with the rest of the line, on 18 October 1869. With low passenger numbers serving a sparsely populated area, the GER withdrew main line stopping services at Roudham Junction in 1920. On 1 May 1932 the advertised passenger service provided by the branch line trains ceased, but an unadvertised service of trains continued to stop. As part of the Beeching rationalisation plan, the station closed with the closure of the Swaffham line on 15 June 1964.

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.

Wretham Park Meres is a 30-hectare (74-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest north of Thetford in Norfolk, England. This site consists of four natural lakes, Mickle Mere, Hill Mere, Rush Mere and West Mere, which provide a breeding habitat for wildfowl such as mallards, gadwalls, shovelers, tufted ducks and teal. There are also many wintering ducks. The site is private land with no public access.

East Wretham Heath is a 141.1-hectare (349-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest south-east of Thetford in Norfolk, England. It is a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I, and it is managed by the Norfolk Wildlife Trust. it is part of the Breckland Special Area of Conservation and Special Protection Area. The principal ecological interest of this site lies in areas of Breckland grassland and two meres, which are supplied by ground water, and fluctuate irregularly. These conditions have led to unusual plants communities which are tolerant of alternate wetting and drying, such as reed canary grass and amphibious bistort. There is public access to the reserve. Part of the land within East Wretham Heath SSSI is owned by the Ministry of Defence.

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.