Honington, Suffolk

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Map sources for Honington, Suffolk at grid reference TL911746

Honington is a small village in the county of Suffolk in England, located near the Suffolk-Norfolk border. It is in northern Suffolk lying on the river Blackbourn (really a stream).

Sapiston is bordered to the north-east by Sapiston, to the north-west by Fakenham Magna, to the north by Euston, to the east by Bardwell, to the south-west by Troston, and to the south by Ixworth Thorpe. It is 8 miles from Bury St Edmunds and 6 miles from Thetford in Norfolk.

The village is probably best known for its RAF base RAF Honington slightly separated from the village. It opened on May 3, 1937, as one of six operational airfields within No 3 Group Bomber Command. In 1994 flying operations stopped and the Honington Air Traffic Control Zone ceased to exist in preparation for Honington becoming home of the RAF Regiment.

Also near two Joint RAF/USAF Bases RAF Lakenheath and RAF Mildenhall

1 History
2 Sapiston and Honington
3 External links

[edit] History

The village's most famous past resident was Robert Bloomfield. Born in 1766, the peasant poet is most remembered for his famous poem "The Farmers Boy" - a vivid description of rural life in the late 18th century.

The local lord of the manor was the Duke of Grafton in neighbouring Euston. The first Duke of Grafton, previously Earl of Euston, was Henry Fitzroy, the son of King Charles II. The third Duke of Grafton was briefly Prime Minister. The current Duke of Grafton is the 11th, and his son is the Earl of Euston.

The parishes of Sapiston and Honington were combined in 1972 and, although Sapiston's church is redundant, occasional services are still held there.

Village Life & Folk Remembered a book by Syd Thurlow was written detailing many local stories about Honington & Sapiston.

[edit] Sapiston and Honington

The map below shows how small and close together Sapiston and Honington are. The distance between the two red outlines is only about 200 metres! Note that the red line does not represent the size of the two villages!

The local Pub is called the Honington Fox Pub.

[edit] Populations

The populations of the villages over the years were:

	Sapiston	Honington	Source
1855	255	331	Source
1881	263	308	Source now offline
1891	233	259	Source
1901	211	236	Source
1911	197	221	Source (for Sapiston)
1991	160	1160 (because of the air force base)	Source now offline
1999	160	1040	Source now offline
2001	164	1247	Source

[edit] Local Walks

Local walks shown here will take you through some of the beautiful countryside about which Robert Bloomfield wrote. The descendants of his patron, the Duke of Grafton, still reside at nearby Euston Hall and own much of the land over which the walks shown here pass. The Fox pub is happy for you to leave your car there during your walk.

The Walks:

(1) 1.5 miles (45 minutes) (a) From Church, Mill Road, (b) Sapiston Mill, (c) Clay Line or (d) Hilly Close if wet, B Road over Bridge (e) River Path.

(2) 3.5 Miles (75 minutes) Follow Footpath (1) but instead of returning to Honington, carry on to (f) George Cottages on the Coney Weston road. Turn left over the stile and then take the field path, then over the next two stiles (g). Cross the river by the footbridge and turn left along field boundary. Follow way markey signs into (h) Water Lane and then rejoin River Walk.

[edit] Dad's Army

This sleepy part of Suffolk proved to be an ideal filming location for the 1970s British TV show Dad's Army. In common with much of the surrounding area, Sapiston and Honington were used for part of the series, in particular the episode "Dads Army Things that go Bump in the Night".

David Croft the director/producer of Dad's Army, 'Allo 'Allo!, Are You Being Served?, Hi-de-Hi!, etc lived in Honington.