Icklingham is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

in the West Suffolk district of Suffolk in eastern England. It is located about north-west of Bury St Edmunds, south-east of Mildenhall and south-west of

Thetford Thetford is a market town and civil parish in the Breckland District of Norfolk, England. It is on the A11 road between Norwich and London, just east of Thetford Forest. The civil parish, covering an area of , in 2015 had a population of 24, ...

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

. The village is on the A1101 road between Bury St Edmunds and Mildenhall in the north-west of the county. The area around the village, characterised by a sandy gravel-laden soil, is known as Breckland, though an arm of the fen-like peat follows the River Lark past the village. The village straddles the River Lark, a tributary to the

Great Ouse The River Great Ouse () is a river in England, the longest of several British rivers called "Ouse". From Syresham in Northamptonshire, the Great Ouse flows through Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk to drain into the W ...

. It was once navigable up to Bury St Edmunds, with locks installed; these are now redundant, the remains of at least one lock being visible near Icklingham. The river is the reason for the siting of Icklingham's most prominent industry, the local flour mill. There are two churches in the village: St. James, and All Saints Church, Icklingham, which is of Norman in origin and a Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

. The village is characterised by flint and pale brick cottages. There were two thriving

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and wa ...

s, including the magnificent thatched Red Lion, in the village, but they both closed. However, in October 2019, the Red Lion was re-opened as the Guinness Arms. A village shop no longer exists, and the village hall, the former School House, is now in private hands. The village contains 11

History

The village may take its name from an

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostl ...

tribe, the

Iceni The Iceni ( , ) or Eceni were a Brittonic tribe of eastern Britain during the Iron Age and early Roman era. Their territory included present-day Norfolk and parts of Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, and bordered the area of the Corieltauvi to the we ...

, who lived in the area and there are the remains of a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

settlement to the south-east; alternatively

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...

''Iclingaham'' "home of the Iclingas" appears to derive from the royal house descended from

Icel The International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL) is a commission set up by a number of episcopal conferences of English-speaking countries for the purpose of providing English translations of the liturgical books of the Roman Rite, t ...

Angeln Anglia (German and Low German: ''Angeln''; Danish and South Jutlandic: ''Angel''; ang, Engla land) is a small peninsula on the eastern coast of Jutland (the Cimbric Peninsula). Jutland consists of the mainland of Denmark and the northernm ...

, which would give rise to kings of both East Anglia and

Mercia la, Merciorum regnum , conventional_long_name=Kingdom of Mercia , common_name=Mercia , status=Kingdom , status_text=Independent kingdom (527–879) Client state of Wessex () , life_span=527–918 , era= Heptarchy , event_start= , date_start= , ...

. Icklingham has a Roman Christian graveyard, and a lead receptacle, reputed to be a baptismal font, was found on the same site. It is now located in the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

. It was also one of the largest Anglo-Saxon settlements in the area and can demonstrate nearby occupation to

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...

times, through research carried out by

Liverpool University , mottoeng = These days of peace foster learning , established = 1881 – University College Liverpool1884 – affiliated to the federal Victoria Universityhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/2004/4 University of Manchester Act 200 ...

over many years. The Black Ditches boundary ditch runs to the south of the village and is believed to be the most easterly of a series of early Anglo-Saxon defensive earthworks built across the

Icknield Way The Icknield Way is an ancient trackway in southern and eastern England that runs from Norfolk to Wiltshire. It follows the chalk escarpment that includes the Berkshire Downs and Chiltern Hills. Background It is generally said to be, wi ...

. From 1808 to 1814 Icklingham was the site of a station in the shutter telegraph chain which connected the Admiralty in London to its naval ships in the port of Great Yarmouth. It has been said that on a clear day, a message could reach Great Yarmouth from The Admiralty in London, and receive a reply, in little more than 17 minutes. The horse-borne messenger would take three days at best.

Natural environment

Icklingham is within the area known as Breckland, an area of sandy heaths and forests. This area has a number of important natural habitats, including for the protected

stone curlew The stone-curlews, also known as dikkops or thick-knees, consist of 10 species within the family Burhinidae, and are found throughout the tropical and temperate parts of the world, with two or more species occurring in some areas of Africa, Asia, ...

. The village is surrounded by the Breckland Farmland Site of Special Scientific Interest and close to the Breckland Forest SSSI, both of which cover large area of Breckland and are two of the largest SSSI areas in England. The

Icknield Way Path Icknield is a parliamentary ward, of the Luton district, in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England. The ward takes its name from the Icknield Way, a pre-Roman road which passes through Luton. Situated towards the northeast of Luton, the ward is ...

passes through the village on its 110-mile journey from

Ivinghoe Beacon Ivinghoe Beacon is a prominent hill and landmark in Buckinghamshire, England, 233 m (757 ft) above sea level in the Chiltern Hills, close to Ivinghoe and Aldbury. Dunstable, Berkhamsted and Tring are nearby. The Beacon lies within the ...

in Buckinghamshire to

Knettishall Heath Knettishall Heath is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest west of Knettishall in Suffolk. A larger area of 176 hectares is the Knettishall Heath Nature Reserve, which is managed by the Suffolk Wildlife Trust. Despite its name, Kn ...

in Suffolk. Th
Icknield Way Trail
a multi-user route for walkers, horse riders and off-road cyclists also passes through the village. In the first half of the 19th century,

great bustard The great bustard (''Otis tarda'') is a bird in the bustard family, the only member of the genus ''Otis''. It breeds in open grasslands and farmland from northern Morocco, South and Central Europe, to temperate Central and East Asia. European po ...

s were occasionally seen around Icklingham before they became extinct in the British Isles. A number of smaller SSSI areas are found in the Icklingham area. These include Berner's Heath, the largest area of heather heathland in Breckland at ,Berner's Heath, Icklingham
, SSSI citation, Natural England. Retrieved 2013-01-26. and Deadman's Grave, a grassland heath area of , both of which are north of the village.Deadman's Grave, Icklingham
, SSSI citation, Natural England. Retrieved 2013-01-26. Cavenham-Icklingham Heaths, to the south-east of the village, is in area and includes a number of woodland habitats.Cavenham-Icklingham Heaths
, SSSI citation, Natural England. Retrieved 2013-01-26. All contain rare species such as Rosser's sac spider ('' Clubiona rosserae'') and the soldier-fly ('' Odontomyia angulata'') as well as stone curlew and plant species such as Breckland wild thyme (''

Thymus serpyllum ''Thymus serpyllum'', known by the common names of Breckland thyme, Breckland wild thyme, wild thyme, creeping thyme, or elfin thyme, is a species of flowering plant in the mint family Lamiaceae, native to most of Europe and North Africa. It is ...

'') and spring speedwell ('' Veronica verna'').

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in Suffolk Forest Heath Civil parishes in Suffolk

History

Natural environment

See also

References

External links