Friends of Thetford Forest Park Day Out 2009

On Wednesday 19th August 2009 The Friends of Thetford Forest Park once again had the opportunity to visit the Stanford Training Area, often known as STANTA.

The Friends first visted STANTA, a large Army training area in Breckland, in 2002 and were delighted that once again the Army had kindly given permission for the Friends to visit the training area that is off limits to the public.

For those of you that were not able to make it on the day, and anyone else interested there follows a short piece written by Anne Mason on the history of the Battle area:

A visit to the area in the 18th or 19th Century would have revealed a very different landscape to that of today – Not only were there six small villages and four rabbit warrens, but two large estates with their halls, stables, farms and gardens existed at Buckenham Tofts and West Tofts.

White’s Norfolk Directory of 1845 records that Buckenham Tofts had only 77 inhabitants, a ruined church, numerous small houses and of course the hall itself. West Tofts is described as a small hamlet, a farmhouse and the hall with its extensive parklands.

By the 1900’s at a time of agricultural depression and loss of farming income, several of the larger Breckland estates were amalgamated including Buckenham Tofts with Diddington and West Tofts with Lynford. With the creation of the Battle Area during the Second World War, both the extensive halls were demolished having been unoccupied for some time.

Although much of the brickwork has long since gone, it is still possible to make out some areas of garden and park, with the avenues of trees and the lakes still in place. The lack of modern day farming throughout the whole area has given the whole landscape a different appearance to the rest of Breckland and gives a real insight into the way it used to look.