Page:VCH Suffolk 1.djvu/90

 A HISTORY OF SUFFOLK further sub-divided into five districts corresponding to the divisions representing the county in Parliament, but these do not seem suitable for scientific purposes. The map therefore attached to this article shows the county separated into five divisions based upon the natural water-basins, the boundary lines obviously following the lines of water- sheds. Divisions I and II nearly coincide with Watson's West Suffolk (v.c. 26), and III, IV', and V with East Suffolk (v.c. 25). It will be seen, by reference to the map,' that the boundaries of the divisions follow roads and lanes almost invariably, in order that the lines may be accurately traced upon the ground. I. Little Ouse This division lies on the chalk, mostly overlaid with gravels, clay, and sand, but better exposed in the west, the chalk itself cropping out at Newmarket, Icklingham, Cavenham, &c. In the extreme north-west of the division fens occur, once t' ; home, doubtless, of Senedo paludoius, S. palustris, Liparis, &c., an J still a most interesting district to the botanist. Of more interest still, perhaps, is a tract of wild heath and moorland country, extending into Cambridgeshire and Norfolk, known as the Breck district, and is referred to below. This division is watered by the Little Ouse and its tributaries, and the River Lark, which receives the waters of the Kennett. A small detached portion of Suffolk, about 4 miles by 3, containing Newmarket and Exning, is included in this district, which is coloured green on map. The Breck district of Suffolk may be said roughly to lie north of the railway from New- market to Thurston, and west of the river from Thurston to Euston, and the majority of the ' Breck plants ' are included in this area. The subsoil is chalk, mostly covered with light, loose sand (apt to be wind-drifted, as at Brandon), or gravel, and on the higher land chalk is frequently seen at the surface ; there are many gravel and chalk pits. The greater part has probably never been cultivated, but some portions, broken up for growing rye, were called ' Brecks,' hence the name for the district. There are many wild and open spots chiefly used as sheep walks and rabbit warrens, favoured haunts of Norfolk plover and wheatear ; but more recently larch and other plantations have been formed, various inclosures made, and portions now strictly preserved as cover for game, much to the discomfiture of the naturalist. A peculiar point of interest respecting the Breck district is the presence there of distinctly maritime birds, insects, and plants, and by some it is thought that an arm of the sea extended to Thetford from the south coast of Suffolk ; others surmise, and this seems the more reasonable idea, that a branch of the Wash reached Thetford from the west, and that the Wash itself extended in the line of the Little Ouse as far as Brandon, Wangford, and Lakenheath, and, further south, to Mildenhall, Icklingham, and Lackford, along the course of the River Lark. Two shallow meres near Roudham Heath, four miles north-east of Thetford, may be relics of this former extension. Evidence seems to point to an actual range of coast sands near Brandon and Thetford at a comparatively recent stage (geologically speaking) of the Post Glacial Period, whilst the great valley of the Fens was still submerged. Pottia Heimii, FUrm., a distinctly maritime moss, is found at Wattisfield, and, amongst the Phanerogams, such sea-coast plants as Rumex maritimus and Carex arenaria (chiefly maritime), and Phleum arenarium and IFeingaertneria canescens (wholly maritime) occur. The following plants may be said to be typical of the sandy or chalky fields and heaths of the Breck country, some of them occurring in local abundance : — Anemone Pulsatilla Astragalus danicus Scleranthus perennis Silene Otites Potentilla verna Herniaria glabra — conica Artemisia campestris Carex ericetorum Alsine tenuifolia Hypochaeris glabra Phleum phalaroides Genista pilosa Veronica spicata Apera interrupta Medicago sylvestris — verna Festuca ambigua — falcata — triphyllos ' This has been reduced to such a small scale that many roads cannot be shown, but it should be compared with the Four-Miles-to-One-Inch Map when the object of the irregular lines of the boun- daries will be apparent. Owing to an error on the part of the map-makers the whole of Thetford Warren has been left uncoloured, this is a portion of Division I, and the error, no doubt, partly arose from the Government Ordnance Surveys confusing the Parish with the County Boundary. The latter is undoubtedly the Little Ouse river. 52