Castle Hill
This is about a ten minute walk from my house. It's an old Iron Age fort and was once home to the king of East Anglia (East England). Queen Boudica, a Celt who rebelled against the Romans also lived there. At that time, there was no large hill, but the trenches surrounding it were there. Many years later when the Normans came to England, it was turned into Motte and Bailey Castle and the hill was made. The Normans chose the location due to the large trenches already there, which added protection. It attracts many tourists each year and is one of the few Motte and Bailey hills still there.
Thetford Priory
About the same distance away from my house, however in the other direction. This was an old Cluniac priory from the 12th century. Once a great collection of flint buildings father time and climbing children have worn it away to what you see in this picture. Though it is illegal to climb on the structures, this isn't enforced and many people still enjoy running along the flint walls. In fact, I once got stuck up a very tall bit of it. At around 5:00pm it turns from tourist attraction to a druggies hangout.
Thomas Paine Statue
My town, Thetford, was the birthplace and home of Thomas Paine, a man who believed in equal rights for all mankind and wrote books on the subject. Many people in England eventually turned against him due to his belief that America should be granted independence. He was also a great influence to the French Revolution. He died in New York at the age of 72. The statue depicts him holding a quill and his book
The Rights of Man. Behind him the large house now used as the council's meeting place can be seen. Behind that is a very large public garden.
Thetford Forest
Created after World War 1 to provide a strategic supply of timber, it is the largest lowland pine forest in Great Britain. It is entirely man made and is used for many recreational activities. There is a small woodland park, a large tree climbing team building structure that takes two hours to complete called Go Ape!. It constists of a lot of wires and jumps from tall trees. Mountain Biking and Hiking, a maze, camping and music concerts. Acts such as Blondie and Motorhead have performed there. It's about a five/ ten minute drive to get there and I have to run through it every sunday for my rugby warm up. Two mile run. The forest is HUGE. What I described probably takes up 10% of it at most.
Grimes Graves
An old Neolithic mine located in Thetford Forest. It was used between 3000 BC and 1900 BC! It is now a tourist attraction and they quite happily let people go down there to take a look, although in the past twenty years certain caves have been closed off due to safety reasons. At least 433 shafts were dug into the chalk and it takes up a space of around 96 acres. One pit was turned into a shrine by unknown people. There was an altar of flint, a bowl and antlers. There are also chalk models of a Venus like figure and a chalk penis. People think the shrine was made to improve fertility. The area around the mines is sadly littered with dead rabbits due to the man made disease Myxomatosis.
