Journal of Breckland Studies (JBS)

The purpose of this highly regarded journal is to stimulate interest and research into the special character of the Brecks so the area is better understood, appreciated and promoted by:

  • Publishing the results of research into aspects of the natural, built and social heritage of Breckland in a single, accessible journal.
  • Providing a resource for professionals and other stakeholders to inform landscape and heritage management policy and practice by disseminating information that is specific and local.
  • Creating opportunities for individuals and voluntary organisations to publish the results of their work so this reaches a wider audience and contributes to knowledge and understanding of the area.
  • Encouraging those working or volunteering in aspects of the Breckland heritage to further develop and expand their skills.
  • Stimulating interest and enthusiasm among those not already involved in natural or cultural heritage activities so they value the area and wish to see its special qualities protected and enhanced.

The JBS is overseen by an Editorial Panel, chaired by Professor Tom Williamson (University of East Anglia, History School) and with experts in the range of disciplines involved in the heritage of the Brecks.

Click here to order copies of JBS.

Revenue from sales will help fund future volumes of the JBS.

JBS Volume 4 was published in early 2022, and focuses on Bury St. Edmunds. It was planned to coincide with 1000th anniversary, in 2020, of the founding of the Abbey but was delayed due to the Covid pandemic. It was published with the financial support of The Bury Society, The Suffolk Preservation Trust and The Breckland Society. Papers include:

  • Pilgrim badges of St Edmund.
  • The Depredatio abbatiae and the uprising of 1327-9.
  • The Breckland Estates of Bury Abbey, 1100-1500.
  • The rivers Lark and Linnet: Hydrology and Landscapes.
  • Written in stone: An evidential connection with the Past.

JBS Volume 3 was published in March 2020, thanks to funding from the NLHF, SNS, the Robert Kiln Charitable Trust and British Sugar. It features papers on:

  • The mapping of Breckland c.1750–­1920.
  • The macro-moths of Weeting Heath.
  • The history of West Stow Hall.
  • The conservation of the Breckland Wormwood.
  • Thatching in the Brecks.
  • The importance of Breckland heaths for Nightjars.

JBS Volume 2 was published in Autumn 2018 and was supported by NLHF funding, together with financial assistance from the Suffolk Naturalists’ Society, The Scarfe Charitable Trust and Oxford Archaeology East. It includes papers on:

  • The archaeology of a WW2 prisoner-of-war camp at Eriswell.
  • The classification and conservation of Breckland grasshoppers.
  • The conservation of a traditional shepherd’s hut.
  • The decline of Breckland’s lichen flora.
  • Woodland planting in the Brecks pre-1919.
  • The findings of the Breckland Bat Project.

JBS Volume One was published in June 2017, thanks to a one-off grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) as part of “Breaking New Ground”, the landscape partnership scheme for the Brecks (2014–­17). Fully illustrated and running to a total of 80 pages, it contained six individual papers on a range of different Brecks-related subjects:

  • A fieldwork study of the former Desert rats camp at High Ash.
  • Goshawks in the Brecks.
  • Early paleolithic archaeology in Breckland.
  • Using Google Earth to investigate C20 military sites.
  • The diary of Frank Norgate.
  • Nature conservation and protecting the archaeology of Brecks heaths.

500 copies were printed and distributed free of charge (as required by the terms of the NLHF grant). Click here to download a PDF copy of Volume One.