Henry II's son, the young King Henry, was just as ambitious as his father, and eager for more power, wealth and influence, he rose in rebellion, backed by his mother and King Louis of France. There were still many barons, earls and nobles who hated Henry II for his confiscations of their lands and castles. These men could be bought by young Henry with promises of restitution. He gained the support of the 80 year old Hugh Bigod by promising him the hereditary custody of Norwich Castle and returning the substantial castle and Honour of Eye. Bigod also expected the return of his old castle at Walton. The young Henry also persuaded the Earl of Leicester, Robert de Beaumont, to join his cause with similar promises.

Robert de Beaumont, Earl of Leicester, had been raising a combined force of French and Flemish mercenaries. On September 24th, (maybe 29th), they landed at Walton with a force of 1,400 Flemish mercenaries. The fleet was sent back to collect more men, and Walton was attacked.

After attacking Dunwich, Ipswich, Haughley, Eye, Orford, and marauding around Suffolk in general, the rebel army now returned to Framlingham, where the Bigods were beginning to get cold feet about the amount of destruction in their home county, and particularly about the amount of plunder falling into foreign hands. The Earl of Leicester was persuaded to head for Leicester to recapture his home town, leaving Bigod to deal with matters in Suffolk.

So Leicester's force of Flemings first headed west, through Suffolk, hoping to bypass trouble at Bury St Edmunds, on their progress to Leicester. Beaumont knew that Bury supported the old King, and so he aimed to avoid trouble by skirting north of the town.

Meanwhile Hugh Bohun and Richard de Lacey, the army commanders of Henry II in the north, had agreed a truce with King William of Scotland. They now regrouped and were marching south to meet the threat. Local Suffolk people joined them as they neared Bury, in particular those whose homes and families had been ravaged by the Fleming militias. Ralph de Broc joined them after his crushing defeat at Haughley. William d'Albini had also arrived back in this country from fighting in France accompanied by some of the royal army. The banner of St Edmund was their rallying point, and doubtless the abbey supplied its knights, servants and workmen to help in the fight.

The usual role of untrained peasants around a battlefield at this time was to attack stragglers and butcher the wounded, or hunt down enemy soldiers who got cut off or who had tried to run away.

So, on October 27th (or, in some accounts, the 17th) 1173, the opposing armies met at Fornham St Genevieve on the River Lark, some four miles north west of the centre of Bury. The Flemish army was caught as it tried to cross the marshes down to the River Lark looking for a suitable fording spot. Fighting seems to have taken place from the Babwell hamlet, by today's Tollgate Inn, along the valley to Fornham. The rebels' strongest position was somewhere near Fornham St Martin Church, or Fornham St Genevieve church, depending upon which account you read. The Royal Army was led by Richard de Lucy, and the Flemish mercenaries were cut to pieces. It was said that 10,000 of the enemy were slain. The Earl of Leicester and his wife, the Countess Petronilla, were captured, but Earl Hugh Bigod escaped to Bungay. The Countess was said to have thrown her ring, and other jewels, into the river as a gesture of defiance. The Earl of Leicester and his Countess were later taken to Normandy as prisoners.

Bones and a few lost weapons have been found in the area of the battle, including the Fornham Sword, which is now in Moyse's Hall Museum, on loan from John Macrae, the landowner. This was found when a muddy ditch was being cleaned out near the water mill at Fornham St Martin around 1876. It was loaned to the Moyse's Hall Museum in 1966, and in 2007 moved to West Stow, returning to Moyse's Hall in late 2008.

'6 Grant to Roger of Walsingham, our clerk, of lands in Great Fornham, (Maiore Fornham) viz. the tenement formerly of Baldwin the priest and the land which he has bought from Aelric son of Berulf.'

'58 Grant to Henry son of Thurston of the mill of Salmonford (Salemundesforde) (in Fornham All Saints) for 30s a year to the Hall at Fornham; also 8 acres of land formerly belonging to William the priest in Hengrave, (Hemegreth) for 2s. a year to the Hall at Fornham.'

By this time the Manor of Fornham St Genevieve was held as an outlying Grange of the Abbey of St Edmund, and had been so apparently since before 1066. The Domesday Book had referred to it as a "berewick" of the abbey, translated in Phillimore as "an outlier".

Fornham St Martin was one of the most important manors attached to the office of cellarer of St Edmund.

Sir Thomas Kytson was a wealthy mercer and merchant adventurer, as well as being a friend of the King and one of his executors. Unlike many other rich men who became landed gentry by buying up the newly privatised monastic lands, Kytson had first put his wealth into land in Suffolk when he purchased Hengrave in 1521. He had also acquired the manor of Great Barton, and had built a large and opulent mansion at Hengrave.

In 1540 Sir Thomas Kytson was still extending his Suffolk landholdings, and he bought eight of the previously monastic manors in Suffolk. These were Fornham St Martin, Fornham St Genevieve, and Fornham All Saints, Chevington, Hargrave, Risby, Sextons Manor at Westley, and Monks Hall at Santon Downham. He paid the tremendous sum at the time of £3,710.

As well as the acquiring the manor of Fornham St Genevieve, Kytson also purchased, "the manor or messuage called the Priory in Fornham St Genevieve," parcel of the estate of the dissolved abbey of St Edmund. John Gage wrote in 1822 that, "a few years since, the foundations of some buildings, supposed to have been this priory, were discovered on the north side of the church." (The Lordship of Priory Manor was included in the sale in 1950 as part of Lot 19, the sale of Park Farm, with its 513 acres. Park Farm and its lands is outside, to the east, of what we know today as Fornham Park.)

In 1560 a schedule of holdings of the late Sir Thomas Kytson, included the following: "the manor or messuage , lately called the priory, in Fornham St Genevieve, and the closes called Frestnalls and Le Camping Close, a water corn mill, called the abbot's water mill, and all the land called the Slade in Fornham St Genevieve."

As early as 1648 (23 Charles I) a Richard Gipps was made one of the five trustees of a deed poll signed by Sir William Hervey and Lady Penelope his wife, vesting in them the manors of Hengrave and other manors in Suffolk - (Gage 1822, page 240). The reason behind this was the fines levied upon the Gages for their Catholic recusancy. Possibly by moving estates into Trust, these estates could avoid the fines. These lands were to be held even after her death, to use them for the benefit of her son Edward Gage and his male issue. This Gipps was probably Sir Richard Gipps, the Suffolk antiquarian of Little Horningsheath Hall (died 1681).

According to John Gage, writing in 1822, the estate of Fornham St Genevieve had passed from the Gage family to the Gipps' family. It was then sold in 1721 by Richard Gipps esq of Badley to Edward Whitaker, made Serjeant at Law to his Majesty in 1726. This Richard Gipps seems to have been a Major in the army, and the only son and heir of Sir Richard Gipps of Horringer.

The earliest known map of the Fornham Park dates to this period, SRO reference 373/23. This survey was taken by Thomas Warren, who had also produced the well known survey of Bury St Edmunds.

The land ownership shown on this map is still apparently fragmented. In addition, many fields have tenants. For example, fields tenanted by Mr Thomas Edgar are denoted by a capital 'E', which together with a Field Book number, related to the rent roll, now lost. Edgar's land also seem to be outlined in yellow.

Large areas of what later became part of Fornham Park were owned by Sir Thomas Gage in 1769. See, for example, Genoveve Close, Slade Close Pasture and Bridge Close, which are named on the map, together with numerals 'I', 'II', and 'III'. Parcels owned by Gage totalled 'XIII' (13) in all.

The area between the Hall and the river was the 'Priory Pasture' of 22 acres. The areas of Glebe land are shown, which would have provided an income to the Vicar or other incumbent of the church. Glebe lands are shaded in a, by now, faded pink wash.

These lands are mostly in the form of strips running up from the river south west to north east. According to Breen (2000) they are almost certainly relics of the medieval landscape of furlongs that would have existed in the open field system that surrounded the village.

Breen also pointed out that the medieval road through the Park is shown passing in front of the Hall, but on its west side. A kiln is shown for brick making.

The serpentine lake which still survives, albeit in modified form, was thought by Breen to provide a head of water for the marked Flow (flour?) mill. However, looking closely at the map, the lake is unshaded, unlike other rivers etc, and it may be possible that the lake itself has been drawn on to this map at a later date. As the flow of the river is from south to north, it is further unlikely to have been a reservoir to serve the mill unless there were considerable changes to the levels achieved by earth moving work. I therefore treat the existence of the lake at this time with caution.

There were buildings around the mill, comprising cottages, gardens and yards, one building was fairly substantial in size. Further dwellings and a shop surrounded the Fornham St Genevieve church and its churchyard.

This map of 1769 shows a pre-emparkment landscape. There is no enclosed section which could be labelled as 'The Park'. The old road system is still in place, and there is a mosaic of land ownership and tenantry.

In the next 15 years these cottages, shops and highways making up the small village of Fornham St Genevieve would be swept away. Road lines would change to encircle an area called 'The Park', and ownership of fields inside the park boundary would be taken into the hands of the owner of Fornham Hall, Sir Charles Egleton Kent. Those fields currently farmed as arable land would be reverted to pasture, to render them more picturesque.

In September, 1782, Capability Brown himself came to Fornham Hall with another of his associates called Samuel Lapidge, to view the site for himself. Samuel Lapidge had first worked with Brown in 1767, and he was named in Brown's will as his successor who would complete any outstanding Brown contracts. As Brown died in 1783 it would have been Lapidge and Spyers who would have completed any work agreed at Fornham.

The plans which were later submitted included alterations to the Hall and the rebuilding of the church, together with Brown's trademark clumps of trees and vista down to a lake. There does not seem to be much evidence that he was actually commissioned to carry out these proposals, except for some plantations of trees in place by 1788.

Other sources continued to attribute ownership to Kent, but might have been confused by the fact that Kent had retained ownership of Fornham St Martin, after selling Fornham St Genevieve.

The map, which is attributed to 1788, shows that the Park was 180-190 acres in size, made up entirely of pasture land, with no arable cultivation. The map was produced by Thomas Bainbridge of No 7 Greys Inn, London. The south and south east boundaries were marked by lines of trees, while the other boundaries were fenced. The lake formerly used by the mill was now labelled as a 'Canal', a usual Brownian term for this as a landscape feature. The river is labelled 'Navigable River'.

Areas of 'Copyhold' land are shown, which Breen suggests are relics of the medieval landscape and are made up of furlong strips running at right angles to the river Lark.

A row of 5 cottages has appeared just ouside the south-eastern edge of the Park, and as the old village within the Park has been swept away by this time, these were very likely built since 1769 to house the displaced villagers. This area is called 'The Green' on the 1788 map. At this time these cottages are clearly outside the Park, but changes to the road alignment in 1819, would bring them within the new Park boundary.

A walled kitchen garden is now located by Ducksluice Farm.

The southern road is now labelled as "stopped." The shape of the lake has been altered but a boathouse has been added. (The foundations of the boathouse were still visible in the early 21st century, and a new structure has been added on to these remains by the 'Dream Lodge' leisure group in 2016.)

The five cottages on the Green, in the south-eastern corner of the Park, have now been demolished. A new South Lodge has been built, and the cottage area is now much more integrated into the Park landscape.

In July 1843 the Duke of Norfolk sold the Fornham Estate to the Rt Hon John Thomas Manners, (1818-1864), also known as John Thomas Manners-Sutton. White's Directory of 1844, recorded the sale as being 'about 1600 acres'. Also, according to Whites, Manners paid £75,550. It is likely that the Duke also nominated Manners to replace him as a River Lark Commissioner. Manners had become Baron Manners of Foston upon the death of his father in 1842.

The map produced for the sale is available by clicking on the thumbnail. Sheepwash Bridge is correctly labelled. Also visible is the Burial Ground in use for former employees of the estate. This was needed to replace the churchyard at the the ruined Fornham St Genevieve church. A few grave markers were still visible in 2015. The North and South Lodges are clearly shown at either end of the Park access road.

The areas shaded in pink represent parts of the estate located in Fornham St Genevieve, while the blue shading denotes parts within Fornham St Martin. Pale yellow shading represents parts within Fornham All Saints. Unshaded areas were excluded from the estate and the sale, and are marked up with their ownerships.

In nearby Fornham St Martin, there were 294 souls and about 1200 acres of land. "Fornham House, a large and handsome mansion, is the seat of John Thomas Ord, Esq., who owns about 200 acres; and the rest of the parish, with the advowson, was sold in 1843, by the Duke of Norfolk, to Lord John Manners, MP." (along with the whole Fornham Park Estate.)

The Hall itself is at the south east of a range of buidings and a kitchen garden. An ornamental garden is show in front of the Hall, with a fountain in its centre.

The house must have been illuminated by gas light at the time. An on-site gasometer is shown, hidden away from the main residence. Coal would have been needed to be brought in to provide this facility.

The cross hatched buildings to the north west of the house are presumably glasshouses to provide exotic fruits and out of season vegetables. The cross hatching was used by the Ordnance Survey to denote a glass roofed structure.

A second walled garden is shown by Ducksluice Farm, with interior divisions by lines of trees. Possibly these were trained fruit trees. A pumping widmill is shown at the foot of this garden, presumably to provide pumped drainage into the river from this low-lying part of the estate.

The other guns were the Hon Derek Keppel, Capt Holford, Mr George Manners, Capt Machell and Mr R Moncrieffe. Because shooting rights covered the whole estate, they began at coverts near Walton Burrell's New Hall Farm, at the far end of Fornham St Martin. Lunch was taken back at the Hall, followed by shooting within Fornham Park itself.

As often still happens today, a thick fog came up from the river at 3 pm, putting an end to the day's sport. The royal guests returned to London by train that evening.

The lock at a location recorded as "Duck Mill" collapsed in 1943. This name may refer to Ducksluice lock at Fornham All Saints and St Genevieve. Flempton Lock also suffered a collapse. There were no resources available to make good these problems because of war time conditions.

The programme was sent to Corporal K Davis who was one of the show's comperes and appeared himself in a couple of the sketches.

Mr. Bellenger replied that, " Fornham Park Camp, Bury St. Edmunds is being reconditioned and re-equipped to accommodate a regiment returning from overseas. The camp was evacuated approximately six months ago by Polish Forces when it was certainly not in a derelict condition. The cost of the work being carried out is estimated at £700, and there is no more suitable barrack or permanent camp available at present for the purpose for which it is required. "

Lieut.-Colonel Clifton-Brown had been the MP for Bury St Edmunds since 5th July, 1945. He did not agree with the Secretary of State's answer. "Could the Minister look again at his answer, because no Polish troops had been there until six weeks ago? In fact, Polish troops in a neighbouring camp were given permission to go and take the stuff out of this camp with the result that the camp is empty. Is it the policy of the Government to allow one part of the Service to take it somewhere else so that money has to be spent to take it back again?"

Mr. Bellenger replied, " No, Sir, we do not give that permission to the Polish troops, but, as the hon. and gallant Gentleman will know, sometimes they do not wait for permission. "

Another ex-military MP joined in. Major Legge-Bourke, "Will the right hon. Gentleman bear in mind that general negligence in regard to empty camps only leads to looting and destruction of very valuable equipment?"

In addition, there is the eye-witness report of one Richard Ashton, the son of the newly appointed Camp Commandant to confirm that Fornham Park became Camp 186.

"Father's final posting was just outside Bury St. Edmunds, in the East Anglian county of Suffolk. Fornham Park was a large country house with extensive grounds, and he and mother had their quarters in a portion of the house, the rest of which was occupied with all of the offices associated with a military unit, rather like a colonial era Government House. He had the dubious honour of commanding the last prisoner of war camp in England to close, one that was high security, and which had a large garrison of soldiers to ensure the security.

Now for the conflicting info. I have seen online two different locations for 186 Base Camp. I can assure you when dad commanded it, it was at Fornham Park, a couple of miles north of Bury St. Edmunds in Suffolk. He retired from there.

As a child I remember during school holidays (while staying there) being sneaked into the soldiers' movie theatre, run by the Army Kinema Corporation, and the film being shown was 'Of Mice and Men', hardly appropriate, but I don't remember any detail of the film. This would undoubtedly have been another Nissen Hut, and thinking back they had two projectors in a make-shift 'bio-box' like a real cinema, and were thus able to do reel changeovers on the run.

It was rumored that Rudolph Hess, one of Adolf Hitler's aides-de-camp, was detained at what was eventually father's camp at Fornham, after his capture in Scotland, and the Allies not entering into the negotiated peace he appeared to have parachuted in to arrange. Hess's whereabouts were never actually divulged, so this is all pure speculation. Father would have known if he were an inmate there, but would never have divulged it.

The first step was to dispose of the furniture and other domestic contents of the Hall. This included period furniture such as pieces by Sheraton, Hepplewhite and Chippendale, books, pictures, sculptures, carpets, linen, china and glass. Some thousand lots were made up, most dating back to Sir William Gilstrap's time, and these were largely sold off in March 1950.

On October 25th, 1950 the now empty Hall, Fornham Park, and the entire Fornham Park estate was put up for sale. The sales particulars noted that Fornham Hall had, "inevitably suffered some damage during its requisition by the War Department." There were 52 lots, including the Park of 224 acres, seven farms, the Old Rectory, school and school house, the Woolpack Inn in Fornham St Martin, 60 cottages, allotment land, meadows and two entrance lodges. The total estate size was 2,400 acres, and the total rent roll was estimated at £4,000 a year.

The land holdings not only included property in Fornham St Genevieve, Fornham St Martin and Fornham All Saints, but there were also significant holdings in Bury St Edmunds to be sold. The sales details noted that, "The Fornham Park Estate is situated adjacent to and partly within the boundary of the historic County Cathedral and market town of Bury St Edmunds. It has been in the possession of the vendor's family for around 100 years since it was purchased by the late Sir William Gilstrap, Bart., from Lord Manners. In that time the only sales have been those necessitated by the growth of Bury St Edmunds, the provision of a site for the Beet Sugar Factory, and sales to the Local Authority for housing."

The sale was managed by Arthur Rutter, Sons and Co, and took place in the Athenaeum, Bury St Edmunds. The attached map clearly shows that Fornham Park itself was just a small part of the total estate. The Park is coloured pink on the map.

The sale included the three Lordships of the Manors of Fornham St Genevieve, Priory (or Priorie) Manor, and Fornham St Martin. The shooting rights were reserved to the vendor, and excluded from sale.

By 20th October it was announced that the park had been bought in order to realise its timber assets. Later it appeared that this buyer was Mr Hurlock of Brook Hall, Nacton.

On 7th November the Bury Free Press carried this article:

"The battle of Fornham finally drew to a bloody conclusion after a war of words across the council chamber yesterday.

And the victors were Rossfleet Investments, based at Bridgham, Norfolk, which wants to transform arable land and the former site of an historic battle into a new golf course for Bury St Edmunds.

Plans for the Fornham St Genevieve scheme has been in the pipeline for nearly three years.

Rossfleet Investments wants to create a 27-hole golf course on 106 hectares of land at Fornham Park.

At yesterday's development control meeting officers recommended the scheme should be refused on the grounds that there was not an over-riding need for another course and the site is within a special landscape area. The officers argued the scheme would impact on the historic battlefield site and there was only limited public access to an area of land which is within the Brecks Countryside Project.

The company was already carrying out restoration work on the ruins of the church tower of Fornham St Genevieve and would also ensure improved management of the woodland area. A footpath between the Park Gate Plantation Walk is also being provided to link in with the Lark Path alongside the river as part of the scheme."

Sand and gravel workings, both old and new, are also shown.

"FORNHAM PARK: We have added another truly amazing park to the Dream Lodge Group portfolio set within the extensive and prestigious grounds which was once part of the Duke of Norfolk’s estate. Our development will be home to 27 of our highest grade autograph lodges set within truly magnificent grounds. The park is surrounded by breath taking panoramic views which overlook the natural grounds and beautiful lake. Additional facilities will be added to the park as planning approvals are gained, making this one of the most sought after opportunities in the area that we highly recommend you visit. The estate consists of parkland and managed woodlands as well as lakes and recently renovated coach house dwellings some listed. The historic Grade II listed church tower that is essential to the development has been restored and the lake has been dredged and the adjacent gatehouse Lodge is being refurbished. Our Lodge park development returns arable land to parkland and puts additional woodland under a management programme. Further facilities will be added to the site as planning approvals are gained, making this one of the most exciting investment opportunities in our portfolio. Fornham Park has a 12 month season.

Suffolk is an ideal place to enjoy walking, cycling or horse riding due to its low lying gentle landscape. Being a farming county there is an abundance of fields growing cereals and sugar beet alongside working farms surrounded by beautiful woodland and the coastal villages are well worth a visit.