14 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF NORWICH AND DISTRICT 
did considerable damage. The low rainfall of about 25 in., sufficient 
for the needs of arable farming in the adjacent districts, is only adequate 
for the upland fields of ‘ the Breck’ when the greater part of the rain falls 
at frequent intervals during the late spring and the early summer. The 
paucity of the population is closely related to the difficulty of obtaining 
water supplies, and it is interesting to note that most of the villages are 
situated near the rivers being, more or less, evenly spaced out at intervals 
of about 2 miles. The sites of these villages, judging by the place-names, 
seem to have been selected by the Saxons. The confluence of the Thet 
and the Little Ouse marks the site of Thetford—a delightful and most 
interesting old town, which attained considerable local importance from 
very early times. ‘ Its 9 pre-eminence in Saxon times is indicated by the 
name of the town, which is simply ‘‘ Theatford,” “‘ theat”” being the neuter 
form of “‘ the.’’’ Here the Icknield Way, coming from the south-west, 
crossed the river and subsequently forked, the main route going north- 
west and a branch north-east. Four miles to the east of Thetford is the 
Peddar’s Way, a trackway leading in a north-north-west direction to 
Holme-next-the-Sea. The presence of these ancient trackways must have 
had considerable influence on the growth of the town and the wealth of 
the townsfolk, and it is of interest to note that in 1086 the number of 
burgesses, 720,!° compares favourably with the 665 in Norwich and 7o in 
Yarmouth. 
Small areas of water called meres without visible inlet or outlet occur 
in hollows where the chalk comes very near the surface, whose influence 
on the life of the inhabitants must have been considerable, especially 
during the eleventh century, when vast numbers of sheep and horses 
were kept, and I do not think it is a mere coincidence that six parish 
boundaries meet at Ring Mere. Breckland is not just a land of rye and 
rabbits, but a picturesque district of small fertile valleys, sandy wartrens, 
extensive heaths of bracken and ling, interesting meres, which give it a 
peculiar charm. Large fields protected from the winds by pine belts, 
which in times when grain fetches a good price are cultivated, only to be 
abandoned as the price falls, and left to revert to stony waste land. It isa 
land where interesting experiments have been carried out, such as the grow- 
ing of tobacco and sugar-beet. The growing of tobacco has been almost 
entirely abandoned, but sugar-beet grown on soils that have been given 
a liberal supply of manure yields a high sugar content. Two other 
successful introductions must be mentioned, a well-established and 
successful production of black currants, and a very recent cultivation of 
asparagus for canning. 
Until recently Breckland was almost entirely an area of huge estates, all 
of which were well stocked with game. Heavy taxation, and especially 
death duties, have been responsible for the sale of some of these estates, 
and the acquisition of large tracts of land by the Forestry Commission. 
Here then is a region which in neolithic ! times had a greater rainfall and 
9 W. G. Clarke, In Breckland Wilds (1925). 
10 The figures are taken from The Domesday Geography of Norfolk and Suffolk, 
by H. C. Darby. 
11 W. G. Clarke, In Breckland Wilds (1925). 
