Lakenheath F.C.

Lakenheath is a village and civil parish in the West Suffolk district of Suffolk in eastern England. It has a population of 4,691 according to the 2011 Census, and is situated in the Forest Heath district of Suffolk, close to the county boundaries of both Norfolk and Cambridgeshire, and at the meeting point of The Fens and the Breckland natural environments. Lakenheath is host to the largest USAF base in the United Kingdom, RAF Lakenheath. Lakenheath Fen Nature Reserve, created in 1996, restored wetlands from agricultural fields that were growing carrots. In May 2007, it was reported that cranes were nesting in the site for the first time since the fen lands were drained in the 16th century.The village has a single Victorian primary school, constructed in 1878, which was extended in 1969, again in 2004 and most recently in 2010/2011. There is a small shopping street on which a variety of multi-cultural shops, restaurants, and services are available. Horse-riding services are also present. The village has a modern library with various amenities. Along this main road there is a small hotel, skate park, and a children's play park. Lakenheath has two pubs though historically it had at least sixteen more. The Plough Inn (also known as the Wok n Rock) is a spacious flint faced 19th-century bar, Far Eastern restaurant and takeaway. It reopened at the end of 2013 after being closed for two years. The other pub is the Brewer's Tap. The Royal British Legion was a members only club, but closed in April 2012.Lakenheath is remarkable for its medieval church, built about 900 years ago in wood, eventually being rebuilt in the local flint construction style. The church on the exterior has an embattled parapet that has an array of gargoyles and other carved faces at the string course at the base. The interior includes medieval paintings and carvings on the pews. The faces of the church's wooden angels bear the scars of the English Civil War, as none of the angels retained their original facial detail, due to religiously motivated vandalism by puritan soldiers. In early 2009, the church received a large grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund and local organisations to restore its rare medieval wall paintings. The wall paintings, depicting local saint St Edmund, angels, and birds amongst other subjects, are believed to date from the 13th century.As well as the Anglican parish church, Lakenheath has churches representing the Methodist, Strict Baptist and Pentecostal (AOG) denominations. All three of the non-Anglican church buildings are also primarily constructed of local flint, albeit with later modifications in brick. The village was struck by an F0/T1 tornado on 23 November 1981, as part of the record-breaking nationwide tornado outbreak on that day.The recently built pavilion now houses the local cricket club and hosts various events. Lakenheath also boasts a football club playing at ‘The PIt’ stadium in the village. The club, in 2021 won promotion to the Thurlow Nunn League Premier Division, the highest they have ever been and, won the Suffolk Senior Cup for the second time in their history.

Maidscross Hill is a 44.8 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest on the eastern outskirts of Lakenheath in Suffolk. It is a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I, and larger area of 49.8 hectares is a Local Nature Reserve.This very dry grassland has four nationally rare plants, Breckland wild thyme, Spanish catchfly, grape hyacinth and sickle medick. The site is not grazed, which has allowed invasion by bracken and scrub, but also increased the nesting sites for birds.There is access from Broom Road and Maids Cross Hill.

Lakenheath Poor's Fen is a 5.2 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest west of Lakenheath in Suffolk.This is mainly fen with diverse flora, and there are also areas of damp grassland, ditches and dykes. The grassland is grazed by cattle, and it has flowering plants including marsh pennywort and cuckoo flower. The site has a nationally rare plant, marsh pea.The site is private land with no public access.

Pashford Poor's Fen, Lakenheath is a 12.4 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest east of Lakenheath in Suffolk.This diverse site has species rich meadow, hollows with fen and marshes, birch woodland, scrub and reedbeds. The invertebrate fauna is diverse, and includes the last known British site for a beetle listed on the Red Data Book of Threatened Species.The site is private land with no public access.

Lackford was a hundred of Suffolk, consisting of 83,712 acres (338.77 km2).The hundred fills the north western corner of Suffolk and is triangular in shape, extending about fifteen miles (24 km) in length on each side. It is bounded on the north by Norfolk, on the west by Cambridgeshire, and on the south east by Blackbourn, Thingoe and Risbridge Hundreds. It is in the Franchise or Liberty of St Edmund, in the Diocese of Ely, the Archdeaconry of Sudbury and the Deanery of Fordham. The main towns are Newmarket (detached from the rest of the hundred), Brandon and Mildenhall as well as a part of Thetford. It is watered by the rivers Lark and Little Ouse, the latter of which separates it from Norfolk and the former after crossing it near Icklingham and Mildenhall flows northward and forms its western boundary with Cambridgeshire. The area to the north west of Mildenhall consists of low fen and part of the Bedford Level who drained the fens in the 17th century. The name Lackford derives from the parish of the same name, Lackford just north-west of Bury St Edmunds, even though that village is actually in Thingoe Hundred. The village's name means "ford over the River Lark", referring to the ford on the village's border with Icklingham.

Lordswell Field or Lord's Well Field is a 3.2 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Eriswell in Suffolk. It is a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I.This area of calcareous Breckland heath has a rich variety of flora including two nationally rare plants, spanish catchfly and perennial knawel, the latter of which is protected under Section 13 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. There is also an area of lichen heath.There is access from the B1112 road.

Lakenheath Fen RSPB reserve is located on the Norfolk/Suffolk border in England, between Lakenheath and Hockwold cum Wilton adjacent to Lakenheath railway station. Until 1995, when purchased by the RSPB, the land now forming the reserve was heavily farmed arable land. Since then, the 740-acre (3.0 km2) site has been turned back into the reed beds and grazing marshes that would once have been common in the area. To achieve this, over 2 km of ditches were re-shaped with shallow sloping sides so as to encourage reed growth and to provide feeding areas, particularly suited to great bitterns. A number of sluices were installed to enable water levels to be controlled. In addition to the existing ditches, over 4 km of water channels were dug to re-circulate water around the site. Despite being created fairly recently, Lakenheath Fen is a haven for wildlife, and the number of birds seen at the reserve has increased significantly. The number of Eurasian reed warblers rose from four pairs in 1995 to 355 pairs in 2002. Reed buntings have increased from 6 to 87 pairs during the same period. Two pairs of western marsh harriers nested for the first time in newly created reed in 2002. Great crested grebes and little grebes are breeding on the meres, and water rails have nested in the new reeds. Bearded tits have stayed on the reserve throughout the winter, as have bitterns. Common cranes have been found to be breeding at the fen for what is believed to be the first time in 400 years.

Lakenheath railway station is on the Breckland Line in the east of England, serving the village of Lakenheath, Suffolk. The line runs between Cambridge in the west and Norwich in the east. Lakenheath is 82 miles 39 chains (132.8 km) from London Liverpool Street via Ely. The station lies some three miles north of the village and is not within convenient walking distance of any sizeable population. However, there is a population of over 10,000 people (in Lakenheath as well as Feltwell and Hockwold cum Wilton) within a five-mile radius of the station. Lakenheath registered just 454 passenger entries/exits in 2018/19, according to Office of Rail and Road estimates. The limited services that call at the station, on request and at weekends only, provide access to the RSPB Lakenheath Fen nature reserve immediately adjacent to the station.

Royal Air Force Lakenheath or RAF Lakenheath (IATA: LKZ, ICAO: EGUL) is a Royal Air Force station near the village of Lakenheath in Suffolk, England, UK, 4.7 miles (7.6 km) north-east of Mildenhall and 8.3 miles (13.4 km) west of Thetford. The base also sits close to Brandon. Despite being an RAF station, Lakenheath currently only hosts United States Air Force units and personnel. The host wing is the 48th Fighter Wing (48 FW), also known as the Liberty Wing, assigned to United States Air Forces in Europe - Air Forces Africa (USAFE-AFAFRICA). The wing operates the F-15C/D Eagle, F-15E Strike Eagle and F-35A Lightning II.

Wilde Street Meadow is an 11.6-hectare (29-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest between Lakenheath and Mildenhall in Suffolk, England.This site has a long history of traditional management, with low intensity summer grazing. It has areas of species-rich calcareous grassland, damp pasture, scrub and dykes. There is a large population of green-winged orchids.The site is private land with no public access.

RAF Lakenheath is a 111 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest covering parts of RAF Lakenheath Royal Air Force base, east of Lakenheath in Suffolk. It is in the Breckland Special Area of Conservation.This grassland site on well-drained sandy soils has more rare plants than any other site in the county, including perennial knawel, Breckland thyme, wild grape hyacinth, sand catchfly, drooping brome and smooth rupturewort. There are also 22 nationally rare and 47 nationally scarce invertebrates.The site is private land with no public access.

The Undley bracteate is a 5th-century bracteate found in Undley Common, near Lakenheath, Suffolk. It bears the earliest known inscription that can be argued to be in Anglo-Frisian Futhorc (as opposed to Common Germanic Elder Futhark). The image on the bracteate is an adaptation of an Urbs Roma coin type issued by Constantine the Great, conflating the helmeted head of the emperor and the image of Romulus and Remus suckled by the she-wolf on one face. With a diameter of 2.3 cm, it weighs 2.24 grams. It may have originated in northern Germany or southern Scandinavia and been brought to England with an early Anglo-Saxon settler. The inscription reads right to left around the circumference of the obverse side, terminating at the image of the wolf: ᚷ‍ᚫᚷ‍ᚩᚷ‍ᚫ ᛗᚫᚷᚫ ᛗᛖᛞᚢ g͡æg͡og͡æ mægæ meduThe o is the earliest known instance of the os rune ᚩ contrasting with the æsc rune ᚫ. The three syllables of the initial word gægogæ are written as bind runes, with side-twigs attached to the X shape of the gyfu rune to represent the vowels æ and o. The words mægæ medu are interpreted as meaning "meed for the kinsmen", i.e. "reward for relatives", referring to the bracteate itself. The word gægogæ appears to be some magical invocation or battle cry, comparable to the g͡ag͡ag͡a on the Kragehul I lance-shaft.