Wangford is a village and former

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 ...

, now in the parish of

Brandon Brandon may refer to: Names and people *Brandon (given name), a male given name *Brandon (surname), a surname with several different origins Places Australia *Brandon, a farm and 19th century homestead in Seaham, New South Wales *Brandon, Q ...

, in the

West Suffolk West Suffolk may refer to the following places in Suffolk, England: * West Suffolk (county), a county until 1974 * West Suffolk District, a local government district established in 2019 * West Suffolk (UK Parliament constituency), an electoral dist ...

district of the English county of Suffolk. The

RAF Lakenheath Royal Air Force Lakenheath or RAF Lakenheath is a Royal Air Force station near the village of Lakenheath in Suffolk, England, UK, north-east of Mildenhall and west of Thetford. The base also sits close to Brandon. Despite being an RAF sta ...

airbase is west of the former parish area with the main runway extending into it.St Denis, Wangford
Suffolk churches website. Retrieved 2014-03-03. Wangford is located around east of

Lakenheath 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 close to the county boundaries of both Norfolk and Cambridgeshire, ...

and south-west of Brandon, close to the

A1065 road The A1065 is a main road in the English region of East Anglia. It provides the principal road connection to parts of the west and north of the county of Norfolk from Newmarket and points south of there, including London. It runs from a juncti ...

. In 2001 the parish had a population of 7. Before it was combined with Brandon on 1 April 2015, the parish consisted of only a few scattered buildings including a church and 16th century hall and had one of the lowest populations of any parish in Suffolk with only seven residents at the 2001 census. In 2015 the parish was formally combined with the town of Brandon.The Forest Heath District (Reorganisation of Community Governance) (Wangford) Order 2014
The Local Government Boundary Commission for England, 2014-10-27. Retrieved 2017-07-02

History

There is evidence of the parish being populated since prehistoric times. Palaeolithic tools such as handaxes, arrowheads and flint scrapers have been found in the parishMonument No. 380305
Pastscape,

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

. Retrieved 2014-03-04. and there is also evidence of

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 ...

and

Romano-British The Romano-British culture arose in Britain under the Roman Empire following the Roman conquest in AD 43 and the creation of the province of Britannia. It arose as a fusion of the imported Roman culture with that of the indigenous Britons, ...

inhabitation.Monument No. 380285
Pastscape,

. Retrieved 2014-03-04. A hoard of 3000 silver and bronze coins, dating from the reign of the Roman Emperor

Gallienus Publius Licinius Egnatius Gallienus (; c. 218 – September 268) was Roman emperor with his father Valerian from 253 to 260 and alone from 260 to 268. He ruled during the Crisis of the Third Century that nearly caused the collapse of the empi ...

(AD 253-68), was discovered in a jar on Wangford Heath. The jar is in Moyse's Hall Museum, Bury St Edmunds, but the coins are missing.Monument No. 380287
Pastscape,

. Retrieved 2014-03-04. A Saxon inhumation burial has also been discovered in the parish. Glass and amber beads and a bronze gilded 'hinged handle' from the site are 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 ...

and a large cruciform brooch is in

Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (BM&AG) is a museum and art gallery in Birmingham, England. It has a collection of international importance covering fine art, ceramics, metalwork, jewellery, natural history, archaeology, ethnography, local ...

.Monument No. 380296
Pastscape,

. Retrieved 2014-03-04. At the

Domesday survey Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

Wangford was recorded as Wamforda.Wangford (near Brandon)
''Domesday book online''. Retrieved 2014-03-04. It was in Lackford Hundred and had 29 households.Wangford
''Open Domesday''. Retrieved 2014-03-04. In the mid 19th century the parish had a population of 48Lewis,Samuel A. (1848)
A Topographical Dictionary of England
', pp. 457-461. Retrieved 2014-03-03. and in 1881 the population was 56.Kelly's Directory for Cambridgeshire, Norfolk & Suffolk, 1883, p.1050

Retrieved 2014-03-03 The western edge of the parish was used as part of the site of

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. The airfield, which is still in use as a

United States Air Forces in Europe United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two f ...

operated base, was built beginning in 1940, initially as a decoy airfield. In the post war period it was used initially as an

RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

base with operational command transferring to the

USAF The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...

in 1948.

St Denis' church

The parish church is dedicated to St Denis and lies close to the end of the runway of RAF Lakenheath. The church has a medieval core although it was restored in the 19th century.Church of St Denis, Wangford
British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 2014-03-03. It features 12th century doorways and a 14th-century tower and 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 ...

. The church became redundant in the 1970s and has been cared for by the New Beginnings International Church, a Southern Baptist church group from the nearby

airbase.

Wangford Hall

Wangford Hall lies to the south of the church immediately adjacent to the airbase boundary fences. It dates from the 16th century and was the home of Sir Robert Wright, Chief Justice of the

Court of King's Bench The King's Bench (), or, during the reign of a female monarch, the Queen's Bench ('), refers to several contemporary and historical courts in some Commonwealth jurisdictions. * Court of King's Bench (England), a historic court court of common ...

King James II James VII and II (14 October 1633 16 September 1701) was King of England and King of Ireland as James II, and King of Scotland as James VII from the death of his elder brother, Charles II, on 6 February 1685. He was deposed in the Glorious Re ...

, and

Sir John Holt Sir John Holt (23 December 1642 – 5 March 1710) was an English lawyer who served as Lord Chief Justice of England from 17 April 1689 to his death. He is frequently credited with playing a major role in ending the prosecution of witches in Eng ...

Lord Chief Justice Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or are ...

from 1689 to 1710.Wangford Hall, Wangford
British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 2014-03-03. In the 19th century it was owned by Richard Garrett the industrialist from

Leiston Leiston ( ) is an English town in the East Suffolk non-metropolitan district of Suffolk, near Saxmundham and Aldeburgh, about from the North Sea coast, north-east of Ipswich and north-east of London. The town had a population of 5,508 at th ...

. The hall and a barn and stable range are Grade II listed buildings.

Geography

Wangford is within the Breckland area.

Wangford Warren and Carr Wangford Warren and Carr is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest between Brandon and Lakenheath in Suffolk. It is a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I, and part of the Breckland Special Area of Conservation, and Special Prote ...

is a Site of Special Scientific Interest located in the former parish area. It features areas of inland sand dune, heathland and carr and includes areas of the rare grey hair-grass '' Corynephorus canescens''.Wangford Warren and Carr
SSSI citation,

Natural England Natural England is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. It is responsible for ensuring that England's natural environment, including its land, flora and fauna, ...

. Retrieved 2013-03-03. Much of the former parish area is within the Breckland

Special Area of Conservation A Special Area of Conservation (SAC) is defined in the European Union's Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC), also known as the ''Directive on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora''. They are to protect the 220 habitats and a ...

,Breckland
Joint Nature Conservation Committee. Retrieved 2014-03-03. and includes areas which fall within the Breckland Farmland SSSI and Breckland Forest SSSI units. The

runs through the former parish area cutting it in two. To the south-east of the A1065 much the area of the former parish is

Forestry Commission The Forestry Commission is a non-ministerial government department responsible for the management of publicly owned forests and the regulation of both public and private forestry in England. The Forestry Commission was previously also respon ...

plantation, forming part of

Thetford Forest Thetford Forest is the largest lowland pine forest in Britain and is located in a region straddling the north of Suffolk and the south of Norfolk in England. It covers over in the form of a Site of Special Scientific Interest. History The ...

References

{{authority control Villages in Suffolk Former civil parishes in Suffolk Brandon, Suffolk