Lakenheath

Lakenheath is a village in Suffolk, England. It has around 5014 residents, reducing to 4,691 at the 2011 Census, and is situated in the Forest Heath district of Suffolk, close to the county boundaries of both Norfolk and Cambridgeshire, and at the meeting point of The Fens and the Breckland natural environments.

Contents

• Map of Lakenheath UK
• Transportation
• RAF Lakenheath
• Prehistory and archaeology
• References

Map of Lakenheath, UK

Lakenheath is host to the largest USAF base in the United Kingdom, RAF Lakenheath.

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, with one grocery store (Cooperative), one newsagents, an optician's shop, a clothes boutique,a Chinese takeaway, a Chinese restaurant, two fish and chip shops, an Indian restaurant plus Jamaican and Filipino restaurants. Also two Tattoo places, two nail bars, one sun tan bar, three hair dressers, and a Sandwich shop. There is also one horse-riding school and three nurseries (day). The village has a library with wireless internet, scanning, printing and photocopying facilities. Along this road there is a small hotel, skate park, a Playing Field 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 construction style. The church on the exterior has an embattled parapet that has an array of very worn 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, 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 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 parish church, Lakenheath has churches representing the Methodist, Strict Baptist and Pentecostal (AOG) denominations. All three of the non-Anglican church buildings are also primarily constructed of local flint, albeit with later modifications in brick.