Flixton, The Saints

Not to be confused with Flixton, Lothingland.
St Mary's church, Flixton

Flixton is a village and civil parish located in the district of Waveney, in the English county of Suffolk.[1] It is located around 2 miles (3.2 km) south-west of Bungay to the south of the River Waveney on the Norfolk border.[2] In 2001 and 2011 the population of the civil parish of Flixton was 176.[3]

The village was the site of a medieval Augustine priory and a World War II airfield.

History

Flixton Priory was founded in the 13th century. The ruined remains of the moated priory are located to the south of the village near to Abbey Farm. These include sections of wall, earthworks and fishponds.[4]

The substantial Flixton Hall was demolished in the 1950s, though not before it provided one of the backdrops for the 1947 children's film The Secret Tunnel.

RAF Bungay was located at Flixton. The World War II airfield was built in 1942 as a base for bombers of the United States Army Air Forces Eighth Air Force. At the end of the war the airfield was used as a prisoner of war camp and then by the RAF as a bomb store until its closure in 1955. Some areas of the airfield remain, including parts of a taxi way and a war memorial dedicated to the 446th Bombardment Group, nicknamed the Bungay Buckeroos, which was based at Bungay from November 1943 until the end of the war.[5] The Norfolk and Suffolk Aviation Museum is located in the village today.

Abbey Wood SSSI

Abbey Wood, located to the south of the village, is an area of ancient woodland designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).[6] The site covers 18.5 hectares (45.7 acres) and includes a range of woodland species such as oak, ash and hazel as well as the rare woodland floor thin-spiked Wood Sedge, Carex strigosa.[6] The woods were probably once associated with Flixton abbey, the site of which borders the woods.[6]

References

  1. ↑ Neighbourhood Statistics
  2. ↑ Vision of Britain
  3. ↑ Civil Parish population 2001 & 2011. Retrieved 2015-09-20.
  4. ↑ Flixton Priory, English Heritage. Retrieved 2013-01-21.
  5. ↑ Bungay airfield, English Heritage. Retrieved 2013-01-21.
  6. 1 2 3 Abbey Wood, Flixton SSSI citation, Natural England. Retrieved 2013-01-21.
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Coordinates: 52°25′52″N 1°23′53″E / 52.431°N 1.398°E / 52.431; 1.398

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