62-693: Mildenhall may refer to: Places in England [ edit ] Mildenhall, Suffolk , town RAF Mildenhall , air force station The Mildenhall Treasure , Roman silver hoard Mildenhall Town F.C. Mildenhall, Wiltshire , village People with the surname [ edit ] Andrew Mildenhall (born 1966), English cricketer Bill Mildenhall (born 1953), Australian basketball player and referee, and Australian rules football player Bruce Mildenhall (born 1953), Australian politician John Mildenhall (1560–1614), British explorer and adventurer, one of
124-566: A 16th-century hexagonal market cross and town pump. The town's market is held here every Friday; it originated as a weekly chartered market in (it is believed) the 15th century. In 1934 Mildenhall was the start point of the MacRobertson Air Race to Melbourne , Australia. The town is the subject and namesake of a song by The Shins , as well as being mentioned in passing in the Pink Floyd song " Let There Be More Light " on
186-646: A Roman settlement, which at some point contained the Mildenhall Treasure . The name of the town was first recorded in 1050 as Mildenhale , believed to mean a nook of land belonging to a woman called "Milde" or a man called "Milda". In 1086, the Domesday Book recorded that the town was the property of the Abbot of St Edmunds and had a population of some 64 families. With the Dissolution of
248-433: A flat, dry, low-lying agricultural region supported by a system of drainage channels and man-made rivers ( dykes and drains) and automated pumping stations . There have been unintended consequences to this reclamation, as the land level has continued to sink and the dykes have been built higher to protect it from flooding. Fen is the local term for an individual area of marshland or former marshland. It also designates
310-578: A number of Christians sought the isolation that could be found in the wilderness of the Fens. Later classified as saints, often with close royal links, they include Guthlac , Etheldreda , Pega , and Wendreda . Hermitages on the islands became centres of communities which later developed as monasteries with massive estates. In the Life of Saint Guthlac , a biography of the East Anglian hermit who lived in
372-493: A road across the Fens to link what later became East Anglia with what later became central England; it runs between Denver and Peterborough . They also linked Cambridge and Ely . Generally, their road system avoided the Fens, except for minor roads designed for exporting the products of the region, especially salt, beef and leather. Sheep were probably raised on the higher ground of the Townlands and fen islands, then as in
434-569: A severe shock attended by a rumbling noise in Bourn after midday. This was felt in Lincolnshire, Leicestershire and Northamptonshire. Houses tottered, slates, tiles and some chimneys fell. As it was a Sunday, some people ran out of the churches "in great consternation". In 1792 another shock was also felt in Bourne and neighbouring towns. There is evidence of human settlement near the Fens from
496-588: Is about 5–10 minutes away from the town square. The River Lark runs through the town, and there is a 19-acre open space adjoining it, called the Jubilee Fields. The Mildenhall Treasure was discovered within the town in 1942. The treasure is a hoard of Roman silver objects buried in the 4th century. In 1946, the discovery was made public and the treasure acquired by the British Museum , where it resides today. Roald Dahl wrote an article about
558-573: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Mildenhall, Suffolk Mildenhall is a market town in the civil parish of Mildenhall High , in the West Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk , England. The town is near the A11 , and is 37 mi (60 km) north-west of Ipswich . The large Royal Air Force station, RAF Mildenhall , as well as RAF Lakenheath , are located north of
620-463: Is little agreement as to the exact dates of the establishment and demise of the forest, but it seems likely that the deforestation was connected with the Magna Carta or one of its early 13th-century restatements, though it may have been as late as 1240. The forest would have affected the economies of the townships around it and it appears that the present Bourne Eau was constructed at the time of
682-594: The Black Sluice . Also this area includes the market town of Spalding and the ancient village of Sempringham . The above were all redrained at one time or another after the Civil War (1642–1649). These areas cover the northern most part of the Fens from Boston right up as far north west as Washingborough near Lincoln along the course of the River Witham and to the north east it extends up as far as
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#1732772910789744-584: The Mesolithic on. The evidence suggests that Mesolithic settlement in Cambridgeshire was particularly along the fen edges and on the low islands within the fens, to take advantage of the hunting and fishing opportunities of the wetlands. Internationally important sites include Flag Fen and Must Farm quarry Bronze Age settlement and Stonea Camp . The Romans constructed the Fen Causeway ,
806-541: The Townlands . It is clear that there was some prosperity there, particularly where rivers permitted access to the upland beyond the fen. Such places were Wisbech , Spalding , Swineshead and Boston. All the Townlands parishes were laid out as elongated strips, to provide access to the products of fen, marsh and sea. On the fen edge, parishes are similarly elongated to provide access to both upland and fen. The townships are therefore often nearer to each other than they are to
868-590: The deforestation , as the town seems to have joined in the general prosperity by about 1280. Though the forest was about half in Holland (Lincolnshire) and half in Kesteven , it is known as Kesteven Forest. Though some signs of Roman hydraulics survive, and there were also some medieval drainage works, land drainage was begun in earnest during the 1630s by the various investors who had contracts with King Charles I to do so. The leader of one of these syndicates
930-659: The fen violet will be seeded. The Fens Waterways Link is a scheme to restore navigation to some of the drainage works. It is planned to bring the South Forty-Foot Drain and parts of the Car Dyke into use as part of a route between Boston and Cambridge. The Fens is the origin of English bandy and Fen skating . It is the base of Great Britain Bandy Association and in Littleport there
992-600: The 17th century described the Fenland as entirely above sea level (in contrast to the Netherlands), the area now includes the lowest land in the United Kingdom. Holme Fen in Cambridgeshire, is around 2.75 metres (9 ft 0 in) below sea level. Within the Fens are a few hills, which have historically been called "islands", as they remained dry when the low-lying fens around them were flooded. The largest of
1054-641: The 1968 album A Saucerful of Secrets as a speculated location for first contact between humanity and extraterrestrial life: Due to the airfield, Mildenhall currently has the highest concentration of U.S. citizens in the country. In 2005, as many as 30% of residents were born in the U.S. The town has a bus station, which was completed in 2005. Regular bus services run to the neighbouring towns of Brandon , Bury St. Edmunds , Newmarket and Thetford . National Express operate daily coach services to Norwich , London ( Victoria Coach Station ), Heathrow , Gatwick and Stansted Airports. Mildenhall railway station
1116-576: The 1st XI won the Two Counties Championship and was promoted to the East Anglian Premier Cricket League . Notable former players include England internationals Tymal Mills and Tom Westley and Essex Women's Lilly Reynolds. The Mildenhall Cycling Club is located next to the cricket ground, and has famous previous members such as Victoria Pendleton . There is a leisure centre on Bury Road which
1178-621: The 6th century but was revived in the mid-10th-century monastic revival. In the 11th century, the whole area was incorporated into a united Anglo-Saxon England . The Fens remained a place of refuge and intrigue. It was here that Alfred Aetheling was brought to be murdered and here where Hereward the Wake based his insurgency against Norman England . Fenland monastic houses include the so-called Fen Five ( Ely Cathedral Priory , Thorney Abbey , Croyland Abbey , Ramsey Abbey and Peterborough Abbey ) as well as Spalding Priory . As major landowners,
1240-597: The County Record Office in Cambridge. The major part of the draining of the Fens was effected in the late 18th and early 19th century, again involving fierce local rioting and sabotage of the works. The final success came in the 1820s when windpumps were replaced with powerful coal-powered steam engines , such as Stretham Old Engine , which were themselves replaced with diesel-powered pumps, such as those at Prickwillow Museum and, following World War II ,
1302-861: The Fen Tigers tried to sabotage the drainage efforts. Two cuts were made in the Cambridgeshire Fens to join the River Great Ouse to the sea at King's Lynn – the Old Bedford River and the New Bedford River , the latter being known also as the Hundred Foot Drain . Both cuts were named after the Fourth Earl of Bedford who, along with some gentlemen adventurers ( venture capitalists ), funded
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#17327729107891364-475: The Fenland has become a major arable agricultural region for grains and vegetables. The Fens are particularly fertile, containing around half of the grade 1 agricultural land in England. The Fens have been referred to as the "Holy Land of the English" because of the former monasteries, now churches and cathedrals , of Crowland , Ely , Peterborough , Ramsey and Thorney . Other significant settlements in
1426-464: The Fens during the early 8th century, Saint Guthlac was described as attacked on several occasions by people he believed were Britons , who were then living in the Fens. However, Bertram Colgrave, in the introduction to one edition, doubts this account, because of the lack of evidence of British survival in the region. British place names in the area are "very few". Monastic life was disrupted by Danish (Anglo-Saxon) raids and centuries of settlement from
1488-436: The Fens include Boston , Downham Market , King’s Lynn , Mildenhall , March , Spalding , and Wisbech . The Fens are very low-lying compared with the chalk and limestone uplands that surround them – in most places no more than 10 metres (33 ft) above sea level. As a result of drainage and the subsequent shrinkage of the peat fens, many parts of the Fens now lie below mean sea level . Although one writer in
1550-470: The Fens is involved in environmental stewardship schemes, under which 270 miles (430 km) of hedgerow and 1,780 miles (2,860 km) of ditches are managed, providing large wildlife corridors and habitat for endangered animals such as the water vole . In 2003, the Great Fen Project was initiated to return parts of the Fens to their original pre-agricultural state. The periodic flooding by
1612-451: The Fens were once permanently flooded, creating lakes or meres , while others were flooded only during periods of high water. In the pre-modern period, arable farming was limited to the higher areas of the surrounding uplands, the fen islands, and the so-called "Townlands", an arch of silt ground around the Wash , where the towns had their arable fields. Though these lands were lower than
1674-783: The Lindsey Level inhabited by farmers by 1638, but the onset of the Civil War permitted the destruction of the works until the act of Parliament that led to the formation of the Black Sluice Commissioners, the Black Sluice Drainage Act 1765 ( 5 Geo. 3 . c. 86 ). Many original records of the Bedford Level Corporation, including maps of the Levels, are now held by Cambridgeshire Archives and Local Studies Service at
1736-645: The Monasteries in 1536, ownership of the town was transferred to Edward North, 1st Baron North , whose son, Roger North , lived in Mildenhall for a time. Ownership of the Mildenhall estate remained with the North family for many decades. It was Henry North who, upon retirement, built the Manor house at Mildenhall. Sir Henry North was elected MP for Suffolk in 1685, but he died a bachelor and so ownership of
1798-553: The North Sea, which renewed the character of the Fenlands, was characterised conventionally by the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica as "ravaged by serious inundations of the sea". The modern approach is to allow a little farmland to be flooded again and turned into nature reserves . By introducing fresh water, the organisers of the project hope to encourage species such as the snipe , lapwing and bittern . Endangered species such as
1860-539: The Roman period, water levels fell once again. Settlements developed on the new silt soils deposited near the coast. Though water levels rose once again in the early medieval period, by this time artificial banks protected the coastal settlements and the interior from further deposits of marine silts. Peats continued to develop in the freshwater wetlands of the interior fens. The wetlands of the fens have historically included: Major areas for settlement were: In general, of
1922-547: The combined capacity to pump 16,500 Olympic-size swimming pools in a 24-hour period or to empty Rutland Water in 3 days. As of 2008, there are estimated to be 4,000 farms in the Fens involved in agriculture and horticulture, including arable, livestock, poultry, dairy, orchards, vegetables and ornamental plants and flowers. They employ about 27,000 people in full-time and seasonal jobs. In turn, they support around 250 businesses involved in food and drink manufacturing and distribution, employing around 17,500 people. Over 70% of
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1984-561: The construction and were rewarded with large grants of the resulting farmland. The work was directed by engineers from the Low Countries . Following this initial drainage, the Fens were still extremely susceptible to flooding, so windpumps were used to pump water away from affected areas. The Company of Adventurers were more formally incorporated in 1663 as the Bedford Level Corporation . However, their success
2046-548: The distant farms in their own parishes. After the end of Roman Britain, there is a break in written records. It is thought that some Iceni may have moved west into the Fens to avoid the Angles , who were migrating across the North Sea from Angeln (modern Schleswig ) and settling what would become East Anglia . Surrounded by water and marshes, the Fens provided a safe area that was easily defended and not particularly desirable to invading Anglo-Saxons . It has been proposed that
2108-472: The early 19th century. There may have been some drainage efforts during the Roman period, including the Car Dyke along the western edge of the Fenland between Peterborough and Lincolnshire, but most canals were constructed for transportation. How far seaward the Roman settlement extended is unclear owing to the deposits laid down above them during later floods. The early post-Roman settlements were made on
2170-638: The edge of the Lincolnshire Wolds to the seaside town of Skegness . These were drained in the 18th and 19th centuries. At the end of the most recent glacial period , known in Britain as the Devensian , ten thousand years ago, Britain and continental Europe were joined by the ridge between Friesland and Norfolk . The topography of the bed of the North Sea indicates that the rivers of
2232-451: The estate passed to Sir Thomas Hanmer . Hanmer was elected Speaker of the House of Commons in 1714 and spent little time in his estate. He also died without an heir, and ownership then passed to Thomas Bunbury , who also became MP for Suffolk. In 1810 Joseph Smedley was able to hire a building as a temporary theatre for £2. The Bunbury family held the manor of Mildenhall until the estate
2294-417: The fen-islands was the 23-square-mile (60 km ) Kimmeridge Clay island, on which the cathedral city of Ely was built: its highest point is 39 metres (128 ft) above mean sea level. Without artificial drainage and flood protection, the Fens would be liable to periodic flooding, particularly in winter due to the heavy load of water flowing down from the uplands and overflowing the rivers. Some areas of
2356-550: The find which was published first in the Saturday Evening Post , and later as " The Mildenhall Treasure " (a short story) in his short story collection The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More . The Mildenhall Museum in the centre of the town contains displays of local history and wildlife, the history of the RAF base, and information on the Mildenhall Treasure . Entrance is free, opening times vary throughout
2418-503: The first British travellers to make an overland journey to India Neil Mildenhall (born 1968), Australian rules footballer Steve Mildenhall (born 1979), English footballer William James Mildenhall (1891–1962), early photographer of Canberra, Australia The Mildenhall photographic collection , created by William James Mildenhall Other [ edit ] "Mildenhall", a song by American dream pop band The Shins from their 2017 album, Heartworms Topics referred to by
2480-536: The highest parts of the drained fen are now only a few metres above mean sea level, only sizeable embankments of the rivers, and general flood defences, stop the land from being inundated. Nonetheless, these works are now much more effective than they were. The Fens today are protected by 60 miles (97 km) of embankments defending against the sea and 96 miles (154 km) of river embankments. Eleven internal drainage board (IDB) groups maintain 286 pumping stations and 3,800 miles (6,100 km) of watercourses, with
2542-611: The land between the rivers. The internal drainage was organised by levels or districts, each of which includes the fen parts of one or several parishes . The details of the organisation vary with the history of their development, but the areas generally include: Bourne Fen and Deeping Fen lie in the southern most parts of Lincolnshire, between the Rivers Welland and the Bourne Eau with the River Glen running between
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2604-478: The less stable peat. Since the 19th century, all of the acid peat in the Fens has disappeared. Drying and wastage of peats has greatly reduced the depth of the alkaline peat soils and reduced the overall elevation of large areas of the peat fens. It is also recorded that peat was dug out of the East and West Lincolnshire fens in the 14th century and used to fire the salterns of Wrangle and Friskney. In later centuries it
2666-529: The monasteries played a significant part in the early efforts at drainage of the Fens. During most of the 12th century and the early 13th century, the south Lincolnshire fens were afforested . The area was enclosed by a line from Spalding, along the River Welland to Market Deeping , then along the Car Dyke to Dowsby and across the fens to the Welland. It was deforested in the early 13th century. There
2728-541: The names of West Walton , Walsoken and Walpole suggest the native British population, with the Wal- coming from the Old English walh , meaning "foreigner". However, the villages are in close proximity to the old Roman sea wall, so the wal- element is more probably from wal or weal , meaning "wall". Walton is generally believed to mean "wall-town", Walsoken to mean "the district under particular jurisdiction by
2790-538: The next few thousand years both saltwater and freshwater wetlands developed as a result. Silt and clay soils were deposited by marine floods in the saltwater areas and along the beds of tidal rivers, while organic soils, or peats, developed in the freshwater marshes. Fenland water levels peaked in the Iron Age; earlier Bronze and Neolithic settlements were covered by peat deposits, and have only recently been found after periods of extensive droughts revealed them. During
2852-484: The old historic county of Huntingdonshire ), and western most parts of Norfolk and Suffolk . Most of the Fens lie within a few metres of sea level . As with similar areas in the Netherlands , much of the Fenland originally consisted of fresh- or salt-water wetlands. These have been artificially drained and continue to be protected from floods by drainage banks and pumps. With the support of this drainage system,
2914-419: The peat fens before the peat shrinkage began, the more stable silt soils were reclaimed by medieval farmers and embanked against any floods coming down from the peat areas or from the sea. The rest of the Fenland was dedicated to pastoral farming , fishing, fowling , and the harvesting of reeds or sedge for thatch. In this way, the medieval and early modern Fens stood in contrast to the rest of England, which
2976-507: The same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Mildenhall . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mildenhall&oldid=873300296 " Categories : Disambiguation pages Place name disambiguation pages Disambiguation pages with surname-holder lists Hidden categories: Short description
3038-427: The small electric stations that are still used today. The dead vegetation of the peat remained undecayed because it was deprived of air (the peat being anaerobic). When it was drained, the oxygen of the air reached it, since then the peat has been slowly oxidizing. This, together with the shrinkage on its initial drying and the removal of soil by the wind, has meant that much of the Fens lies below high tide level . As
3100-522: The southern part of eastern England flowed into the Rhine , thence through the English Channel . From the Fens northward along the modern coast, the drainage flowed into the northern North Sea basin . As the ice melted, the rising sea level drowned the lower lands, leading ultimately to the present coastline. These rising sea levels flooded the previously inland woodland of the Fenland basin; over
3162-474: The three principal soil types found in the Fenland today, the mineral-based silt resulted from the energetic marine environment of the creeks, the clay was deposited in tidal mud-flats and salt-marsh, while the peat grew in the fen and bog. The peat produces black soils, which are directly comparable to the American muck soils . A roddon , the dried raised bed of a watercourse, is more suitable for building than
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#17327729107893224-598: The town. Both are used by the United States Air Force and Mildenhall is the headquarters of its 100th Air Refueling Wing and 352nd Special Operations Group . Mildenhall is often seen as the start of The Fens on the south/east. The area around Mildenhall has been settled by humans since at least the Bronze Age. Following the Roman Empire invasion of Britain, Mildenhall was the site of
3286-592: The two Fens and the area covers both the town of Bourne as well as The Deepings including the villages of Langtoft and Baston . The Lindsey Level, also known as the Black Sluice District, was first drained in 1639 and extends from the Glen and Bourne Eau to Swineshead and then across to Kirton . Its waters is carried mostly though the South Forty-Foot Drain through to the Haven at Boston though
3348-483: The type of marsh typical of the area, which has neutral or alkaline water and relatively large quantities of dissolved minerals , but few other plant nutrients . The Fens are a National Character Area , based on their landscape, biodiversity, geodiversity and economic activity. The Fens lie inland of the Wash , and are an area of nearly 1,500 sq mi (3,900 km ) in the south east of Lincolnshire , most of Cambridgeshire (which also includes parts of
3410-628: The wall", and Walpole to mean simply "wall-pole" (Old English wal and pal ). When written records resume in Anglo-Saxon England, the names of a number of peoples of the Fens are recorded in the Tribal Hidage and Christian histories. They include North Gyrwe (Peterborough and Crowland), South Gyrwe (Ely), the Spalda (Spalding), and Bilmingas (part of south Lincolnshire). In the early Christian period of Anglo-Saxon England,
3472-581: The year. The region between Devil's Dyke and the line between Littleport and Shippea Hill shows a remarkable amount of archaeological findings of the Stone Age , the Bronze Age and the Iron Age . The Fens The Fens or Fenlands in eastern England are a naturally marshy region supporting a rich ecology and numerous species. Most of the fens were drained centuries ago, resulting in
3534-525: Was broken up in 1933. RAF Mildenhall was officially opened in 1934 and served as a base for RAF Bomber Command during the Second World War . In 1950, the US Air Force took over its operation. On 1 April 2019 the parish of West Row was split from Mildenhall, on 10 October 2023 the parish was renamed from "Mildenhall" to "Mildenhall High". Mildenhall is centred on a market place with
3596-453: Was primarily an arable agricultural region. Since the advent of modern drainage in the 19th and 20th centuries, the Fens have been radically transformed. Today arable farming has almost entirely replaced pastoral. The economy of the Fens is heavily invested in the production of crops such as grains, vegetables, and some cash crops such as rapeseed and canola . Drainage in the Fenland consists of both river drainage and internal drainage of
3658-445: Was short-lived. Once drained of water, the peat shrank, and the fields lowered further. The more effectively they were drained, the worse the problem became, and soon the fields were lower than the surrounding rivers. By the end of the 17th century, the land was under water once again. Though the three Bedford Levels together formed the biggest scheme, they were not the only ones. Lord Lindsey and his partner Sir William Killigrew had
3720-427: Was the Earl of Bedford, who employed Cornelius Vermuyden as engineer. Contrary to popular belief, Vermuyden was not involved with the draining of the Great Fen in Cambridgeshire and Norfolk in the 1630s, but only became involved with the second phase of construction in the 1650s. The scheme was imposed despite huge opposition from locals who were losing their livelihoods based on fishing and wildfowling. Fenmen known as
3782-485: Was the terminus of the Cambridge to Mildenhall railway until its closure in 1962. Mildenhall has two primary schools : St. Mary's and Great Heath and one secondary school : Mildenhall College Academy . The secondary school also contains a sixth form . Mildenhall has a non-League football club, Mildenhall Town F.C. , who play at Recreation Way. It also has one of the East of England's leading cricket clubs, Mildenhall Cricket Club , playing at Wamil Way . In 2016
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#17327729107893844-467: Was used locally for winter fuel and its digging controlled by the Duchy of Lancaster . Written records of earthquakes in the Fen area appear as early as 1048. According to Historia Ingulfi, p. 64, (1684) this took place in Lincolnshire. In 1117 one affected Holland, Lincs, "endangering and injuring Crowland Abbey ". In 1185 Lincoln was damaged. In 1448 a shock was recorded in south Lincolnshire ( Ingulfi, p. 526). In 1750 John Moore records
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