Please note that the postcard from series
ended in 2004 and that descriptions of shops and services were correct at
time of going to press
Where
is it:
Off the A134 Thetford to Bury St Edmunds road Barnham is only
divided from nearby Thetford by a mile or two of common land covered
in
twisted pines and heathland marking it as part of the ancient Breckland.
It is quiet and out of the way.
What's the attraction?
There's quite a lot for the keen historian and it is one of the
more lovely Suffolk rural villages whose beginnings lie in farming
It is within a Special Site of Scientific Interest It has 11 thatched
houses and a wonderful avenue of beech trees leading into the village
from Euston It is also one of the nine parishes that meets at Rymer
Point at nearby Honington
Landmarks?
All that is left of the former St Martin Church is a tower but
13th Century St Gregory Church is still standing Villagers recently
raised 47,000 to keep the 14th Century towershipshape and in the
1860s the Duke of Grafton paid for extensive refurbishments The
white windmill minus its sails was converted into a house It does
have a certain blink and you'll miss it quality as it is set back
from the road
So what is its history?
Barnham was divided into two parishes and was called the Barnhams
until the 18th Century It became Barnham when it lost St Martin's
Church It did have a railway connecting to Thetford and Bury St
Edmunds but that disappeared in the Sixties A great deal of Barnham
was bought by the second Duke of Grafton whose estates are at Euston
in 1730 and it has been considered part of Euston Estate since that
time Now there are only a dozen houses owned by the estate but the
land is still the Duke's
St Gregory's Church in 1946
The church still looks the same today
East England Tank Museum
Isn't there an Army base near there?
Yes RAF Barnham was originally built in the Fifties
to store and maintain atomic weapons Part of RAF Barnham's function
was to convince the Soviet Union that Britain had more weapons
at her disposal Thankfullyweapons were moved off in the early
Sixties and the bomb store was converted to an industrial estate
But the Army is still there just a bit further up the road
Anywhere to take the
children?
One for the boys maybe but last year the East England
Tank Museum settled in Barnham after a long search for a home
Is there anywhere to eat or drink?
The Duke The Grafton Arms which is out of the village
and on the A134 has food and drink and you
can't miss it it's bright pink
And what about shopping?
No chance There is absolutely nowhere to shop. As with most other
villages Barnham lost its post office and village shop some years
ago and sorely misses it.
