Honington, Suffolk
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 MildenhallThe 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.
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.
Populations
The populations of the villages over the years were:
| Honington | -- valign="top" | 255 |331 |Source|-- valign="top" | 263|308|Source now offline|-- valign="top" | 233|259|Source|-- valign="top" | 211|236|Source|-- valign="top" | 197|221|Source (for Sapiston)|-- valign="top" | 160|1160
(because of the air force base)|Source now offline|-- valign="top" | 160|1040|Source now offline|-- valign="top" | 164|1247|Source|}
Local WalksLocal 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 ArmyThis 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.*Pages including Honington from:
**History, Gazetteer & Directory of Suffolk, 1855
**Kelly's Directory of Suffolk, 1912
*Village News
*"The Farmers Boy"
*Village Life & Folk Remembered
*Honington Fox Pub
*Dads Army Things that go Bump in the Night
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