Mellis is a small village in

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

, England. It has the largest area of unfenced

common land Common land is land owned by a person or collectively by a number of persons, over which other persons have certain common rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect Wood fuel, wood, or to cut turf for fuel. A person ...

in England.

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three Ki ...

exercised his troops in Mellis. It once had a

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

on the main line between

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

, and a small branch line that ran to nearby

Eye Eyes are organs of the visual system. They provide living organisms with vision, the ability to receive and process visual detail, as well as enabling several photo response functions that are independent of vision. Eyes detect light and conv ...

Mellis Common Mellis Common is a 59 hectare nature reserve in Mellis in Suffolk. It is managed by the Suffolk Wildlife Trust. The common has changed little over hundreds of years, and is still managed by traditional methods of grazing and hay cutting. Flora in ...

is a 59

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is a ...

nature reserve. In summer rare plants such as

green-winged orchid ''Anacamptis morio'', the green-winged orchid or green-veined orchid ( synonym ''Orchis morio''), is a flowering plant of the orchid family, Orchidaceae. It usually has purple flowers, and is found in Europe and the Middle East. Description It f ...

sulphur clover ''Trifolium ochroleucon'', also known as ''Trifolium ochroleucum'' or sulphur clover, is a species of clover in the family Fabaceae. It is a perennial and can be found in grassy places, predominantly on clay soils. It is native to Europe, includi ...

and

adder's tongue fern ''Ophioglossum'', the adder's-tongue ferns, is a genus of about 50 species of ferns in the family Ophioglossaceae. The name ''Ophioglossum'' comes from the Greek meaning "snake-tongue".

flourish. The abundance of small mammals also makes the site a favourite hunting ground for

barn owl The barn owl (''Tyto alba'') is the most widely distributed species of owl in the world and one of the most widespread of all species of birds, being found almost everywhere except for the polar and desert regions, Asia north of the Himalaya ...

and

tawny owl The tawny owl (''Strix aluco''), also called the brown owl, is commonly found in woodlands across Europe to western Siberia, and has seven recognized subspecies. It is a stocky, medium-sized owl, whose underparts are pale with dark streaks, an ...

. The 14th-century parish church of St Mary, restored in 1859 and 1900, is a Grade II*

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 ...

. In 1968,

Roger Deakin Roger Stuart Deakin (11 February 1943 – 19 August 2006) was an English writer, documentary-maker and environmentalist. He was a co-founder and trustee of Common Ground, the arts, culture and environment organisation. ''Waterlog'', the ...

(1943 – 2006), writer and environmentalist, bought Walnut Tree Farm on the edge of Mellis Common, which he rebuilt over many years and where he lived until his death.

References

External links

''Diss Express''
- village's local newspaper website
Mellis Village council
- village's parish council

- Mellis C.E.V.C school Villages in Suffolk Mid Suffolk District Civil parishes in Suffolk {{Suffolk-geo-stub