Thetford Warren Lodge

Thetford Warren Lodge
Suffolk
Thetford Warren Lodge
Type:	Gamekeeper's lodge
Location
Grid reference:	TL83938407
Location:	52°25’25"N, 0°42’13"E
History
	Built Early 15th century
	Gamekeeper's lodge
Information
Owned by:	English Heritage
Website:	Thetford Warren Lodge

Thetford Warren Lodge stands in Thetford Warren, part of the broader Thetford Forest which is an extensive woodland west of Thetford and overspreading the border of Suffolk with Norfolk, which is here, and all the way to the western edge of the shires, marked by the River Little Ouse. The lodge stands on the south side of the river, in Suffolk.

The Lodge was probably built around 1400 by the Prior of Thetford, whose priory, Thetford Priory, lies in ruins a little to the east of here in the town. It is no mere cottage in the woods however but a fortified tower. The gamekeeper needed a defensible lodge to protect him and the prior’s hunting parties against armed poachers.

The priory was dissolved under King Henry VIII but the lodge survived better than the priory buildings. Later used by the local ‘warreners’ who harvested rabbits in Thetford Warren.

Today, Thetford Warren Lodge is Grade II* listed building, and in the care of English Heritage.