Flixton 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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

located in the north of the

English county The counties of England are a type of subdivision of England. Counties have been used as administrative areas in England since Anglo-Saxon times. There are three definitions of county in England: the 48 ceremonial counties used for the purpo ...

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

. It is around south-west of

Bungay Bungay () is a market town, civil parish and electoral ward in the East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer Map OL40: The Broads: (1:25 000) : . It lies in the Waveney Valley, west of Beccles on the edge of The Broads, and at th ...

in the East Suffolk district and is one of the villages around Bungay which make up the area known as The Saints. The

A143 road The A143 is a road that runs from the Gorleston-on-Sea area of Great Yarmouth, in Norfolk to Haverhill, Suffolk, Haverhill in Suffolk. For much of the route (between Gorleston-on-Sea and Bury St Edmunds) the road is classified as a primary ro ...

runs just to the north of the parish border linking Bungay with Harleston and Diss. The north-western boundary of the parish is marked by the

River Waveney The River Waveney is a river which forms the boundary between Suffolk and Norfolk, England, for much of its length within The Broads. The earliest attestation of the name is from 1275, ''Wahenhe'', from ''*wagen + ea'', meaning the river by a q ...

on the

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

border. As well as Bungay, the parish borders the Suffolk parishes of

St Cross South Elmham St Cross South Elmham is a village and civil parish in the north of the English county of Suffolk. It is in the East Suffolk (district), East Suffolk district, close to the border with Norfolk and is east of Harleston, Norfolk, Harleston and s ...

, St Margaret South Elmham, Homersfield, St Peter South Elmham and

Ilketshall St Margaret Ilketshall St Margaret is a village and civil parish in the north of the English county of Suffolk. It is south of the market town of Bungay in the East Suffolk (district), East Suffolk district. The parish is part of the area known as The Sai ...

and the Norfolk parishes of

Earsham Earsham is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. Earsham is located west of Bungay and south-east of Norwich. The village is located close to the border between Norfolk and Suffolk, and the River Waveney. History Ear ...

and Denton. The parish council is joined with Flixton and St Cross and St Margaret South Elmham.Flixton West & St Cross & St Margaret South Elmham Grouped Parish Council
Suffolk InfoLink,

Suffolk County Council Suffolk County Council is the upper-tier Local government in England, local authority for the county of Suffolk, England. It is run by 75 elected county councillors representing 63 divisions. It is a member of the East of England Local Governme ...

. Retrieved 2021-02-27. At the

2011 United Kingdom census A Census in the United Kingdom, census of the population of the United Kingdom is taken every ten years. The 2011 census was held in all countries of the UK on 27 March 2011. It was the first UK census which could be completed online via the Inter ...

the parish had a population of 176. It was the site of a medieval Augustine priory and a World War II airfield and is the modern site of two food processing factories and an aviation museum.Flixton, St Margaret (South Elmham) and St Cross (South Elmham)
Healthy Suffolk, 2016. Retrieved 2021-02-22.

History

Flixton Priory was founded in the 13th century. The ruined remains of the moated priory are located to the south of the village near to Abbey Farm. These include sections of wall, earthworks and fishponds.Flixton Priory
English Heritage. Retrieved 2013-01-21. The substantial Flixton Hall provided one of the backdrops for the 1947 children's film ''The Secret Tunnel'', before being demolished in the 1950s. RAF Bungay was located at Flixton. The

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

airfield was built in 1942 as a base for bombers of the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

Eighth Air Force The Eighth Air Force (Air Forces Strategic) is a numbered air force (NAF) of the United States Air Force's Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC). It is headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. The command serves as Air Forces S ...

. At the end of the war the airfield was used as a prisoner of war camp and then by the RAF as a bomb store until its closure in 1955. Some areas of the airfield remain, including parts of a taxiway and a war memorial dedicated to the 446th Bombardment Group, nicknamed the ''Bungay Buckeroos'', which was based at Bungay from November 1943 until the end of the war.Bungay airfield
English Heritage. Retrieved 2013-01-21. The Norfolk and Suffolk Aviation Museum is located in the village today.

Abbey Wood SSSI

Abbey Wood, located to the south of the village, is an area of ancient woodland designated as a

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...

(SSSI).Abbey Wood, Flixton
SSSI citation, Natural England. Retrieved 2013-01-21. The site covers and includes a range of woodland species such as

oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

, ash and

hazel Hazels are plants of the genus ''Corylus'' of deciduous trees and large shrubs native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. The genus is usually placed in the birch family, Betulaceae,Germplasmgobills Information Network''Corylus''Rushforth, K ...

as well as the rare woodland floor thin-spiked Wood Sedge, '' Carex strigosa''. The woods were probably once associated with Flixton abbey, the site of which borders the woods.

References

External links

Norfolk and Suffolk Aviation Museum
{{authority control Villages in Suffolk Civil parishes in Suffolk Waveney District