Hidden Heritage – Discovering Geology and Archaeology

This project was to introduce more people to the geology and archaeology of the  Brecks, from 500,000 years ago to the present day. Geology is often overlooked but is key to understanding the prehistoric settlement, history and development of the landscape.

As well as delivering a series of lectures in various locations across the Brecks, project lead Tim Holt-Wilson also created two day schools. Both involved a coach tour of the area, visiting a range of significant sites and hearing from a variety of experts.

The first day school focused on Bones and Stones – a morning of paleolithic archaeology lectures and a museum Palaeolithic material handling session, and an afternoon visiting West Stow, Rampart Field, Barnham, and East Farm Pit culminating in an exhibition of flint knapping by John Lord at Lynford Hall Pit.

The second day was for holocene archaeology – Burnt Mounds and Bog Oaks. Exploring a landscape of hunter gatherers using flint tools on sandhills and by rivers where the first farmers used pot boilers (made from heat affected flint). This day school culminated in a trip to a lost lake, complete with shell marl excavation and bog oak piles! The resources for this day school can be found in our Heritage Resources.

Thetford Swimming Pool – photo credit: Frank Meeres

Tales from the River

This project was a full celebration of how people engage with rivers and the importance of stories told by many voices about something that matters to a local community.

Through training volunteers in recording oral history interviews, this project gathered a huge archive of tales from the river. You can hear the first oral history recorded here: Mary’s Story.

This collection of stories has been used by the Ancient House Museum’s Teenage History Club to create a film: A Fun History of Thetford’s Rivers, has been turned into a travelling exhibition which has popped up all over the Brecks and, most recently, has inspired a tour of storytelling events.

Throughout the project, at each event, project lead, Imogen Radford took a map of the Brecks with her for people to place stickers on river spots where they swim, walk, fish, canoe, paddleboard and other river-based recreation. This has now been turned into a wonderful digital map.

Industrious Rivers

This project, led by The Breckland Society, explored the history of trade and development along the rivers of the Brecks by documenting the structures and researching and interpreting the commercial activities that helped shape the economic and industrial profile of the area. Awareness of this history is key to informing better management of surviving heritage structures in future.

Through a programme of volunteer training, the aim of this project was to create an entirely volunteer-researched and written book on river industries. The book has just gone to print, so watch this space!

It wasn’t just about reading and writing though, the volunteers also took part in conservation efforts at various sites, including Cressingham Mill and Buckenham Tofts Mill and created this wonderful film about conserving structures: Little Cressingham Mill.

Following the research, the related exhibition Made by the River was created at Ancient House Museum, which has now been turned into a digital exhibition which you can see here: Made by the River.

River Raiders

Another project led by The Breckland Society, this one studied ancient texts, archaeology and place-names in order to uncover the history and impact of the Vikings in the Brecks.

Volunteers took part in a series of seminars to learn how to undertake research which are available for anyone to watch: studying archaeology, reading the landscape and historical sources.

As a result, they created an amazing book which explores ancient events such as the arrival of the Viking Great Army in the Brecks, the establishment and development of Thetford, and the martyrdom of King Edmund at the hands of the Vikings. You can download your copy here: River Raiders.

Similarly to the Industrious Rivers project, an exhibition was also shown at Ancient House Museum and has been turned into a digital resource which you can view here: Vikings on your Doorstep.

Digital Interpretation: Heritage Hotspots

This project has worked to improve the quantity and quality of digital interpretation available at heritage and environmental sites across the Brecks.

The Brecks is famous for being remote and ‘off-grid’. As a result, many visitor sites are limited by the type of interpretation they can offer visitors, due to a lack of internet or phone signal. Through this project, four partner sites have installed brand new InfoPoint units. These standalone Wi-Fi transmitters (developed by Wildfi Ltd) provide visitors with access to specially curated digital content, without the need for data usage or downloading an app. The interpretation offered is also richer than simply words, but includes videos, audio, images, and guided tours.

The four sites engaged in the project were Ancient House Museum (Thetford), the British Trust for Ornithology Nunnery Lakes Reserve (Thetford), RSPB Lakenheath Fen Nature Reserve, and West Stow Anglo Saxon Village.

Scheme Website and Info Hub

When setting BFER up, we dedicated one section of the project entirely to the digital content we would provide, with the aim of creating one single hub of information on the Brecks with a wealth of resources across landscape, conservation, heritage and events.

Since September 2022 (when we started recording data), we have had nearly 27,000 visitors to our website. We also, of course, have our amazing newsletter subscribers who have been the most supportive and encouraging community. We hope, whatever’s next, you stay with us on this journey.

Here are some of our personal highlights from the website:

Project Manager, Nicole:
“After seeing the excitement of the children in schools who took part in our Vikings in the Classroom project, I’m so proud of the teaching packs we’ve created for anyone to download and take part too.”

Volunteer & Engagement Officer, Jude:
“Having started out as a volunteer blogger with BFER, I’m a bit biased, but my favourite part of the website is the volunteer blog. All we ever asked from bloggers was that they took the Brecks as their inspiration, and their variety and creativity is beautiful! There is a mixture of fiction, poetry, written walks, event reflections and essays and in so many different voices. A particular highlight is the River Keeper’s Year series by Dr John Urquhart.”

Project Officer, Tracy:
“I just love all the films we’ve created over the years. You can catch them all on our YouTube, or on the specific project pages but, for me, a highlight is the video of our day out building an iron age roundhouse. It shows the fun of volunteering and how big things can be created if we all pitch in!”

Natural Environment Manager, Nick:
“I love the landing page! 
It’s the beating heart of the Scheme that always has fresh and new information, pictures and opportunities to get involved. It highlights the best of our projects, and provides links to all of our exciting events and activities. It’s a celebration of collaboration, and a wide variety of communities, groups and individuals being involved with, delivering, or benefiting from our projects.”

Take a look at our other Programme Round-Ups below:

Programme 1: Restoring the Water

Programme 3: Working Waters

Programme 4: Revealing the Rivers