c. 1100–
Chippenhall Green, Fressingfield
Green-winged orchids carpet this medieval green in the spring, a wonderful legacy from its centuries of use as a common pasture. Fringed by the houses and farmsteads of those who had the right to graze their animals there, greens are one of the characteristic features of Suffolk’s clayland. Emerging around the 11th century, the largest (up to about 530 acres) are on the wide plateaux of north Suffolk, but many were enclosed in the 18th and 19th centuries and now only survive as outline ‘ghosts’. In south Suffolk, ‘tye’ is a locally distinctive term for a green.
For more information see:
www.suffolklandscape.org.uk/landscapes/Plateau-claylands.aspx
www.sssi.naturalengland.org.uk/Special/sssi/sssi_details.cfm?sssi_id=1000958
Further reading
Martin, E., ‘Greens, Commons and Tyes in Suffolk’, in A. Longcroft and R. Joby (eds.) East Anglian Studies: Essays presented to J.C. Barringer, University of East Anglia, Norwich 1995.
