Eriswell, Suffolk
Eriswell is a parish and small village set in the heart of a farming community in West Suffolk. It is 14 miles (22.5 km) from Bury St. Edmunds, 16 miles (25.75 km) from Thetford, 16 miles (25.75 km) from Ely and 27 miles (43.45 km) from Cambridge. The village lies within the Elveden Estate and most of the vacant land and many houses are owned by the estate.
Eriswell sits in the heart of Breckland, a natural habitat of gorse-covered sandy heath which is the driest place in the UK. It is also situated in Thetford forest, the largest lowland pine forest in Britain.
Eriswell Parish includes the villages of Lords Walk and Eriswell, the hamlet of Little Eriswell, and a large section of the RAF Lakenheath air base.
The duplex manor of Eriswell-cum-Chamberlains have existed for 1500 years. On today's maps the Eriswell of old is now called Little Eriswell and the Chamberlains of old is now called Eriswell.
When the invading Anglo-Saxons dispossessed the Romanised Britons they founded the two present villages. When the Anglo-Saxons became Christian they built a church in each village. The later Norman parish church of St. Peter's stood near Eriswell Hall but it collapsed in the 16th. century and only the chancel remains today. The present church of St. Laurence dates back to a 13th. century rebuild of a structure mentioned in the Domesday Book. It was more than doubled in size by the Chamberlain family in the 14th century. The hamlet around the building was called Coclesworth in the Domesday Book of 1086 and became known as Chamberlain's three hundred years later.
William the Conqueror gave this duplex manor to Eudo his Steward. In the 12th. century it passed to the de Rochester family, then in the 13th. century through a married daughter to the de Tudenham family and in the 15th. century to the Bedingfield family again through a married daughter. In the 17th. century Oliver Cromwell confiscated the property from the Loyalist Bedingfields and in 1649 sold it to a newly formed missionary society. In 1869 the society sold the manor to the Maharajah Duleep Singh and in 1894 it was bought by the newly rich Guinness family whose titular head is the Earl of Iveagh.
During the Napoleonic Wars (1799-1815) Eriswell Warren supplied up to 25,000 rabbits a year to feed the hungry of London. The warreners lived in a low fortified tower.
Today many acres of the parish support housing for American service personnel stationed at Lakenheath and Mildenhall Air Bases. Indeed two of the five church bells of St. Laurence church were donated in 1958 by US Air Force personnel, and they are rung on special occasions.
The village sign has St. Lawrence as a background to a tractor and plough, which symbolises the agricultural heritage of the parish. On the left is a stone curlew with pine trees, and on the right a cock pheasant with wheat, representing the nature of the warrens and heathland to the east. Below the name is a USAF jet, representative of the neighbouring RAF Lakenheath, a twig of oak leaves and acorns and a glass of beer with a chequered background represents the village pub, The Chequers.
Eriswell, Suffolk
Eriswell is a parish and small village set in the heart of a farming community in West Suffolk. It is 14 miles (22.5 km) from Bury St. Edmunds, 16 miles (25.75 km) from Thetford, 16 miles (25.75 km) from Ely and 27 miles (43.45 km) from Cambridge. The village lies within the Elveden Estate and most of the vacant land and many houses are owned by the estate.
Eriswell sits in the heart of Breckland, a natural habitat of gorse-covered sandy heath which is the driest place in the UK. It is also situated in Thetford forest, the largest lowland pine forest in Britain.
Eriswell Parish includes the villages of Lords Walk and Eriswell, the hamlet of Little Eriswell, and a large section of the RAF Lakenheath air base.
The duplex manor of Eriswell-cum-Chamberlains have existed for 1500 years. On today's maps the Eriswell of old is now called Little Eriswell and the Chamberlains of old is now called Eriswell.
When the invading Anglo-Saxons dispossessed the Romanised Britons they founded the two present villages. When the Anglo-Saxons became Christian they built a church in each village. The later Norman parish church of St. Peter's stood near Eriswell Hall but it collapsed in the 16th. century and only the chancel remains today. The present church of St. Laurence dates back to a 13th. century rebuild of a structure mentioned in the Domesday Book. It was more than doubled in size by the Chamberlain family in the 14th century. The hamlet around the building was called Coclesworth in the Domesday Book of 1086 and became known as Chamberlain's three hundred years later.
William the Conqueror gave this duplex manor to Eudo his Steward. In the 12th. century it passed to the de Rochester family, then in the 13th. century through a married daughter to the de Tudenham family and in the 15th. century to the Bedingfield family again through a married daughter. In the 17th. century Oliver Cromwell confiscated the property from the Loyalist Bedingfields and in 1649 sold it to a newly formed missionary society. In 1869 the society sold the manor to the Maharajah Duleep Singh and in 1894 it was bought by the newly rich Guinness family whose titular head is the Earl of Iveagh.
During the Napoleonic Wars (1799-1815) Eriswell Warren supplied up to 25,000 rabbits a year to feed the hungry of London. The warreners lived in a low fortified tower.
Today many acres of the parish support housing for American service personnel stationed at Lakenheath and Mildenhall Air Bases. Indeed two of the five church bells of St. Laurence church were donated in 1958 by US Air Force personnel, and they are rung on special occasions.
The village sign has St. Lawrence as a background to a tractor and plough, which symbolises the agricultural heritage of the parish. On the left is a stone curlew with pine trees, and on the right a cock pheasant with wheat, representing the nature of the warrens and heathland to the east. Below the name is a USAF jet, representative of the neighbouring RAF Lakenheath, a twig of oak leaves and acorns and a glass of beer with a chequered background represents the village pub, The Chequers.