Lakenheath is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the West Suffolk district of

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

in eastern England. It has a population of 4,691 according to the 2011 Census, and is situated close to the county boundaries of both

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

and

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfor ...

, and at the meeting point of The Fens and the Breckland natural environments. Lakenheath is host to the largest

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

base in the United Kingdom,

RAF Lakenheath Royal Air Force Lakenheath or RAF Lakenheath is a Royal Air Force List of Royal Air Force stations, station near the village of Lakenheath in Suffolk, England, UK, north-east of Mildenhall, Suffolk, Mildenhall and west of Thetford. The insta ...

. Lakenheath Fen Nature Reserve, created in 1996, restored wetlands from agricultural fields that were growing carrots. In May 2007, it was reported that cranes were nesting in the site for the first time since the fen lands were drained in the 16th century. The village has a single Victorian primary school, constructed in 1878, which was extended in 1969, again in 2004 and most recently in 2010/2011. There is a small shopping street on which a variety of multi-cultural shops, restaurants, and services are available. Horse-riding services are also present. The village has a modern library with various amenities. Along this main road there is a small hotel, skate park, and a children's play park. Lakenheath has two pubs though historically it had at least sixteen more. The Plough Inn (also known as the Wok n Rock) is a spacious flint-faced 19th-century bar, Far Eastern restaurant and takeaway. It reopened at the end of 2013 after being closed for two years. The other pub is the Brewer's Tap. The Royal British Legion was a members-only club, but closed in April 2012. Lakenheath is remarkable for its medieval church, built about 900 years ago in wood, eventually being rebuilt in the local

flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Historically, flint was widely used to make stone tools and start ...

construction style. The church on the exterior has an embattled parapet that has an array of gargoyles and other carved faces at the string course at the base. The interior includes medieval paintings and carvings on the pews. The faces of the church's wooden angels bear the scars of the

English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...

, as none of the angels retained their original facial detail, due to religiously motivated vandalism by puritan soldiers. In early 2009, the church received a large grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund and local organisations to restore its rare

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

wall paintings. The wall paintings, depicting local saint St Edmund, angels, and birds amongst other subjects, are believed to date from the 13th century. As well as the

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

parish church, Lakenheath has churches representing the

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

, Strict Baptist and

Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a movement within the broader Evangelical wing of Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes direct personal experience of God in Christianity, God through Baptism with the Holy Spirit#Cl ...

( AOG) denominations. All three of the non-Anglican church buildings are also primarily constructed of local

, albeit with later modifications in brick. The recently built pavilion now houses the local cricket club and hosts various events. Lakenheath also boasts a football club playing at ‘The PIt’ stadium in the village. The club, in 2021 won promotion to the Thurlow Nunn League Premier Division, the highest they have ever been and, won the Suffolk Senior Cup for the second time in their history.

Transportation

Lakenheath railway station, north of the village, sees very little passenger service. There are regular bus services to the neighbouring towns of Brandon, Mildenhall and Thetford plus buses to Bury St. Edmunds operated on school/college days which are available to the general public.

RAF Lakenheath

Lakenheath is host to the largest deployment of United States Air Force personnel in the United Kingdom:

. The social impact of the

fighter airbase and its nearby sister, RAF Mildenhall, on the economy of Lakenheath and on the nearby towns and villages is important. The United States has maintained a presence in the community since bombers were stationed there during WWII conducting raids on Europe. The base has a population of around 6000 service personnel.

Prehistory and archaeology

During the

Ice Age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages, and g ...

, the River Bytham flowed through the area that is now Lakenheath, depositing much of the modern geology found in the area. Excavation of three early Anglo-Saxon cemeteries at RAF Lakenheath between 1997 and 2002 uncovered a total of 394 inhumation and 17 cremation burials, including one 6th-century grave with a horse burial: a man was buried next to a fully armoured horse.

History

During the

Peasants' Revolt The Peasants' Revolt, also named Wat Tyler's Rebellion or the Great Rising, was a major uprising across large parts of England in 1381. The revolt had various causes, including the socio-economic and political tensions generated by the Black ...

in 1381, Sir John Cavendish, the Chief Justice of the King's Bench and Chancellor of the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

was pursued by rebels and caught and killed in Lakenheath. The village was struck by an F0/T1 tornado on 23 November 1981, as part of the record-breaking nationwide tornado outbreak on that day.

Climate

Lakenheath has an

oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen climate classification, Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of co ...

similar to the rest of the region of

East of England East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sunrise, Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact ...

. It is therefore warmer and drier than the average climate of the

British Isles The British Isles are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner Hebrides, Inner and Outer Hebr ...

due to its relative distance to the low-pressure dominated coastal weather systems of the Atlantic.

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in Suffolk Civil parishes in Suffolk Forest Heath