Background to Breckland Warrens
The grant has been awarded to the Society to carry out research into one of the most important aspects of the Brecks heritage: the area’s famous rabbit warrens. These first came to prominence in Medieval times, when designated areas known as “warrens” were set aside for the breeding of rabbits for their meat and fur. Here they were nurtured, protected from poachers and trapped and culled by warreners.

There are over 20 warrens scattered across the Norfolk and Suffolk Brecks, and whilst some, such as that at Mildenhall, have been studied on a limited basis, others remain almost completely unknown. In particular, there is still no detailed overview of how much remains of each warren in terms of its structure, namely the high banks that were built around each warren to keep in the rabbits, and the lodges constructed so that the warrener could keep watch over his charges. Many warren sites have not been visited and assessed in recent years, nor has any concerted work been carried out in the county archives to collate historical data and references related to the warrens and to the activities of which they were once the focal point, such as the trade in rabbit fur and meat.

What The Project Involves
English Heritage, working with the Breckland Society and the Forestry Commission, which now owns the land on which many of the warrens are located, is keen to plug these gaps in our knowledge. The grant of £12,100 has been offered to the Society for the following work: the identification and recording of archaeological features of the warrens; research into the documentary evidence for their management and development; and an assessment of the effect that enclosure, the establishment of estates and of the Forestry Commission had on the warren landscape and on those employed in warrening and the fur factories. An illustrated report summarising the Society’s findings and conclusions will be compiled, as will a colour leaflet designed to increase awareness of the warren heritage to a general audience. The Society is contributing £500 towards the costs of the project from its own resources.

How You Can Help
The first stages of the project will be research into the documentary evidence for the warrens and on-the-ground assessment of all the warrens that are currently accessible. For this to take place we need volunteers – this could mean YOU! All that is required is an interest in landscape history and a willingness to spend a few hours over the next twelve months exploring one of the area’s historic warrens in the search for evidence of elements such as banks and lodges and searching for references in documents.

The first training session was held at Oak Lodge on 8 August, with some 25 volunteers attending, who were given a background into the history of warrens and warrening in the Brecks and invited to express an interest in carrying out documentary and archaeological research. Such was the level of enthusiasm that almost all the warrens are now allocated a researcher! However, there are still opportunities to join in the project, either as a fieldworker, archive researcher or oral history recorder.