We know that people have lived and worked in the High Lodge area for millennia. There are flints mines from the Neolithic period and burial mounds from the Bronze Age; Iron age and Roman pottery shards have been found; The Normans created a rabbit warren, the outline of which can still be traced in the forest today.
The warreners have left us records in the archives and local press that tell us of battles with poachers and of the large number of pelts and carcases supplied from the land.
Farmers are listed in the census returns from the Victorian and Edwardian eras.
During the first world war Canadian Foresters and German PoWs started to fell the trees planted by the Georgian and Victorian estate owners. This work was continued after the end of the war by a private company formed by the Canadians.
After the creation of Thetford Forest in the 20s a government training centre was established at High Lodge. Here unemployed men were taught forestry skills before emigrating to Canada.
From the start of World War 2 the training camp was used as accommodation for boys evacuated from approved schools. After the war the huts were used as temporary housing for Polish forces and the farmhouse once more became a family home.
High Lodge Camp 1929-1930
The Canadian Forester's Entertainers
A Warrener
Women's Land Army (WLA) AKA Lumberjills
Santon Downham Home Guard
Members of the Polish Community
The Parrott Family
Land Girls