Embracing Autumn in the Brecks
Our quick guide for enjoying autumn to the fullest in the Norfolk and Suffolk Brecks. More
It’s not every day you get to attend a book launch, but, on the 6th of January 2025, the team at BFER did just that as we celebrated the launch of The Breckland Society’s latest efforts: Industrious Rivers: A History of the Waterways of Breckland.
The launch was a well-deserved celebration for the volunteers behind it, as it marks the culmination of over two years’ work. From the launch of the project in October 2022, through studying old maps, learning about how staunches and mill machinery works, undertaking archaeological surveys, and visits to at least eight important sites, The Breckland Society volunteers have given a huge amount of time and effort in researching, fact checking, writing, editing and designing this book.
At 114 pages, the book explores each of the Brecks rivers: the Wissey, Gadder, Little Ouse, Thet, and Lark, and is packed full of old photographs, illustrations and maps, excerpts from historical texts and even quotes from oral histories recorded under our Tales from the River project. The history uncovered is rich and varied too, from Mesolithic axeheads and the floortiles of a Roman villa, Flemish weavers in Thetford in the 16th century and a 13th century leper hospital to the natural spring creating a “ghostly” holy well and millstones made from black lava rock.
If you have ever walked alongside a river and seen the ruins of an old building and wondered what it may have been, or if you live by a Brecks river and want to get to know it better, this is the book for you!
You can download your very own digital copy of the book here: Industrious Rivers – A History of the Waterways of Breckland.
The Breckland Society has also created a special archive of documents, resources and images relating to the research on their website which you can view here: Industrious River Project Archive. This will also continue to be updated as and when new research and information comes to light.
This book was written as part of our Industrious Rivers project.
