Honington, Suffolk

Infobox UK place
country = England
latitude= 52.33619
longitude= 0.80350
os_grid_reference= TL911746
official_name= Honington
population =
shire_district= St Edmundsbury
region= East of England
shire_county = Suffolk
constituency_westminster= Bury St Edmunds
post_town= BURY ST EDMUNDS
postcode_district = IP31
postcode_area= IP
dial_code= 01284

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).

Honington 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

This village is also the home of the Honington foxes football club named after the local pub.

History

The village's most famous past resident was Robert Bloomfield. Born in 1766, the peasant poet is most remembered for his famous poem [http://www.gutenberg.net/etext05/8farm10.txt "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.

[http://www.honingtonfox.co.uk/villagelifebook.htm Village Life & Folk Remembered] a book by Syd Thurlow was written detailing many local stories about Honington & Sapiston.

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 [http://www.honingtonfox.co.uk/ Honington Fox Pub] .

Populations

The populations of the villages over the years were:

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.

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 " [http://homepage.ntlworld.com/tonyg0ruy/Thingsbump.htm Dads Army Things that go Bump in the Night] ".

David Croft the co-writer of Dad's Army, "'Allo 'Allo!", "Are You Being Served?", "Hi-de-Hi!", etc lives in Honington.

External links

*Pages including Honington from:
** [http://www.historicaldirectories.org/hd/pageviewer.asp?pnum=710&zoom=-r%2B100&dn=IHR11010tif&fn= History, Gazetteer & Directory of Suffolk] , 1855
** [http://www.historicaldirectories.org/hd/pageviewer.asp?pnum=208&zoom=-r%2B120&dn=LUL1019tif&fn= Kelly's Directory of Suffolk] , 1912
* [http://www2.buryfreepress.co.uk/village/honington.html Village News]
* [http://www.gutenberg.net/etext05/8farm10.txt "The Farmers Boy"]
* [http://www.honingtonfox.co.uk/villagelifebook.htm Village Life & Folk Remembered]
* [http://www.honingtonfox.co.uk/ Honington Fox Pub]
* [http://homepage.ntlworld.com/tonyg0ruy/Thingsbump.htm Dads Army "Things that go Bump in the Night"]