The Brcckland 



213 



(called brakes, folds or faughs), of which one was broken up every year, 

 cropped continuously for a few seasons (with the aid of sheep manure and 

 marling), and then allowed to revert to its former condition until its turn 

 came to be ploughed again. Fig. 58 shows die fields at West Wretham in 

 the mid-eighteenth century, and illustrates conditions generally. These 

 outfields were large, but few can have equalled those at Northwold in the 

 seventeenth century when men ploughed straight for 12 furlongs.' 



Fig. 58. 



Field System at West Wretham (Norfolk), 1741. 



From J. Saltmarsh and H. C. Darby, "The Infield-Outfield System on a Norfolk 

 Manor", Economic History, iii, 34 (1935). This is diagrammatised from the original 

 map on two sheets of vellum pasted together, and measuring 53^X36jin. It is 

 preserved in the Muniment Room of King's College, Cambridge. 



According to W. G. Clarke, "parts of almost every area of heatliland were 

 at one time cultivated, but have become derelict. Both these areas and the 

 large sandy open fields are known as 'brecks', and their number, and the 

 fact that they are characteristic of all parishes, induced me in 1894 to give 

 the district the name of Breckland."^ Thus it seems that the name by which 

 the whole area is known may mean nothing other than "the land of 

 outfields". 



' Mentioned by Sir PhiUp Shippon, 1671, Norfolk Archaeolo^qy, xxii, 176 (1925). 



^ W. G. Clarke, In Breckland Wilds (1925), p. 22. The term '"The Brock District" 

 was used by Prof. A. Newton in the introduction to H. Stevenson's, The Birds 

 Norfolk, vol. i (1866). 



