560 MR. W. G. CLARKE ON BRECKLAND CHARACTERISTICS. 
countries, and laid againe doe long after yield a sweeter and 
more plentiful seede for sheep ; so that each of them maintains 
the other, and are the chiefest wealth of our Countrey.” 
Writing about 1662, Sir Thomas Browne referred to this as 
the “ Champian and feildie part,” mentioning the occurrence 
on the heaths of the district of cranes, great bustards, sheld- 
duck, dotterel, plovers “ green and grey, in great plentie 
about Thetford and many other heaths,” and stone curlews. 
In 1668 there was a great sandstorm at Downham, the sand 
travelling five miles from Lakenheath Warren, almost over- 
whelming the village, and for a time blocking up some three 
miles of the course of the Little Ouse. Downham conse- 
quently obtained the prefix of Sandy, now corrupted to Santon. 
John Evelyn visited Euston in 1671 as the guest of Lord 
Arlington, and described the soil as “ drie, barren, and 
miserably sandy, which flies in drifts as the wind sits.” In 
1677 he went to see “ the Travelling Sands about ten miles 
wide of Euston, that have so damag’d the county, rouling 
from place to place, and like the Sands in ye Deserts of Lybia, 
quite overwhelm’d some gentlemen’s whole estates.” The 
map in Ogilby’s ‘ Britannia ’ (1675) shows “ Sheep Downs ” 
between Thetford and Brandon, “ open way ” between 
Thetford and West Tofts, and “ warren ” and “ heath ” 
between Thetford and Barton Mills. Blomefield, the Norfolk 
topographer describes South-west Norfolk as Filand,” that 
is “field land,” which he explains is a tract of unenclosed 
arable land. Kirby in the ‘ Suffolk Traveller ' (1757), denomin- 
ates the district the “ Fielding Part ” of Suffolk, and says, 
“most of it is in sheepwalks, yet affords good corn in many 
places.” He frequently refers to “champaign lands” in the 
vicinity of Thetford. 
It seems certain that in the middle of the 18th century 
the amount of arable land was small, was fallow for six months 
of the year, and that the “ tracks ” which for the most part 
served as roads, were unbounded by hedges, and often by 
banks. Most of Breckland was then a treeless waste. It is ob- 
vious that travelling was, under such circumstances, beset with 
difficulties. Some evidence of the inconveniences is furnished 
