Rendlesham, near Woodbridge in Suffolk, was a royal centre of authority for the king of the East Saxons, of the Wuffinga line and the proximity of the Sutton Hoo ship burial may indicate a connection between Sutton Hoo and the East Saxon royal house. Swithhelm, son of Seaxbald, who reigned from 660 to around 664, was baptised at Rendlesham by Saint Cedd with King Aethelwald of East Anglia acting as his godfather. He died around the time of the great plague of 664 and may have been buried at the palace of Rendlesham. It's name is recorded in Anglo-Saxon about 730 AD as Rendlæsham, which may mean "Homestead belonging to [a man named] Rendel", or it may come from a theorized Anglo-Saxon word *rendel = "little shore".
Rendlesham Forest is owned by the Forestry Commision and consists of approximately 15 square kilometres
(3700 acres) of coniferous plantations. More recently it has become famous as the site of the Rendlesham
Forest Incident, the name given to a series of reported sightings of unexplained lights and objects in the
sky, and the alleged landing of an extraterrestrial spacecraft, in December 1980, in the vicinity of
Rendlesham Forest. Along with the Berwyn Mountain Incident, it is perhaps the most famous UFO event to have
happened in Britain, ranking amongst the best-known UFO events worldwide. It has been compared to the Roswell
UFO incident in the United States and is, amongst Americans, commonly referred to as "Britain's Roswell" or
the "English Roswell".Sceptics dismiss the more extreme claims and offer rational explanations of the observed phenomena: for instance they claim that the initial sighting of an object apparently descending into the forest was caused by a bright fireball and that the flashing light subsequently seen from the forest edge was caused by the beam from the nearby Orford Ness lighthouse; nor, they say, was there anything unusual about the radiation levels. Believers however, do not accept that the sceptics can adequately refute eyewitness, documentary, photographic and radiological evidence.
Following the event, the MoD denied that it posed any threat to national security and that it was thus never investigated as a security matter. However, later evidence indicated that there was a substantial MoD file on the subject and this has led to claims of a cover-up. Some have interpreted this as part of a larger pattern of information suppression concerning the true nature of unidentified flying objects, by both the United States and British governments, on which there is a whole UFO conspiracy theory written.
Like the Roswell incident, it occurred in the vicinity of two military bases, RAF Woodbridge and RAF Bentwaters (now abandoned), which were being used by the United States Air Force. The main events of the incident, including the supposed "landing", took place in the forest, almost a mile (1600 m) to the east of the main east gate of RAF Woodbridge. On the evening of 26 December 1980, a resident of Sudbourne, a village approximately 6 miles (10 km) to the North East of Rendlesham Forest, reported a mysterious shape (like an upturned mushroom) in the sky above his garden. An Unidentified Flying Object was also reported at the nearby USAF Woodbridge air base, where servicemen initially thought it was a downed aeroplane but, upon entering the forest to investigate, they saw many strange lights moving through the trees, as well as a blinding light from an unidentified object.
Some of the airmen claim to have seen a conical metallic object, suspended in a yellow mist, hovering over a clearing in the trees, with a pulsating blue and red circle of light above. One eyewitness claims to have seen triangular landing gear on the object. The servicemen further claimed that the object seemed clearly aware of their presence and moved away from them, forcing them to give chase. Later the servicemen were said to have been found in a dazed state, and some reports claim that local farmyard and domestic animals had been behaving in a state of fear and panic.
The airmen were allegedly debriefed, threatened and ordered to sign documents that vowed silence; one even claimed to have been forced to sign a document claiming the UFO was a lighthouse. Some reports suggest that they were reportedly ordered to stay quiet, with the warning "bullets are cheap". The next morning, servicemen returned to the small clearing where the conical object had been seen, and found three small impressions in a triangular pattern, as well as burn marks and broken branches on nearby trees.
They returned again on the evening of 28 December with radiation detectors, although the significance of the readings they obtained is disputed. The deputy base commander investigated this sighting personally and recorded the events on a micro-cassette recorder, now known as ‘The Holt Tape’ There are also claims that the incident was videoed by the USAF; but the resulting tape has not been made public. It has been rumoured that small beings with domed heads left the craft, and that twin base commander Gordon Williams claimed to have made sign language communication with the aliens. These rumours have no evidence to back them up, and come from unconfirmed reports.
Locals in the area also believed the alleged "landing marks" simply to be "rabbit diggings". Moreover, the supposed burn marks in the trees were actually axe cuts that indicated the trees were ready to be felled. To give further pause to accepting the alleged UFO sighting, a meteor "almost as bright as the full Moon" was spotted over southern England at exactly the time of the initial reports of a bright object "landing" in the forest, according to Dr John Mason, who collects reports of meteor sightings for the British Astronomical Association.
Today, the forest looks quite different: the Great Storm of 1987 caused extensive destruction of trees, and the Forestry Commision undertook a massive replanting program in its aftermath. However, some of the locations associated with the supposed incident are still identifiable and the Forestry Commission have marked a trail (the UFO Trail) for walkers, which includes the principal locations such as the small clearing where the object allegedly landed. At the start of the UFO trail, there is a large triangular shaped metal information board. It features a map of the forest, clearly marking the UFO trail and gives a basic account of what happened in 1980
Snape
Snape is a small village in Suffolk, on the River Alde close to Aldeburgh and is now best known for Snape Maltings, no longer in commercial use, but converted into a tourist centre together with a concert hall that hosts the major part of the annual Aldeburgh Festival, emphasising the area's links with Benjamin Britten. Also, Severus Snape from the Harry Potter books was named for the village.
There has been human habitation at Snape for some 2,000 years. The Romans established a settlement here, centred on salt production. In Anglo-Saxon times the Wuffings (who ruled East Anglia from Rendlesham) used Snape largely as a burial site, and archaeological investigations have revealed boat burials and other graves. The Domesday Book recorded forty-nine men; with their families. The book also mentions a church, standing in eight acres, and valued at sixteen pence (a larger sum than it now sounds). Snape priory was founded in 1155, downriver from the village, by a local landowner and it survived until 1525, when it was closed and stripped of its wealth by Cardinal Wolsey. One of its barns, built by the monks, is all that still stands, and has been dated to 1295. The monks also built a water mill, and probably also constructed the first bridge across the Alde. This was wooden at first, though in 1802 a brick bridge was built, and then itself replaced in 1960.
Snape has had five main industries throughout its history. Under the Romans it was salt production, but in
the 19th century it was fertiliser, created from coprolite found locally. The discovery of the
commercial viability of this process (by a Saxmundham bone merchant, Edward Packard) led to what has been
dubbed "the Suffolk Gold Rush", and local fortunes made by Packard established what was to become the
fertiliser company Fisons. Sugar beet was also an important product; it was first grown commercially in and
exported to the Netherlands from Snape. The Maltings, producing and exporting high-quality malted barley,
was a fourth important industry, which bequeathed buildings to the fifth significant industry - tourism.
Snape had already tasted success as a tourist destination, for in the 18th and 19th centuries the Snape Race Course on the banks of the Alde was the site of a race meeting held every year for nearly 150 years. As a result of fertiliser, sugar beet, and malted barley, Snape had became a very busy inland port by the end of the 19th century. The Maltings, with its fine brick buildings and riverside position, was ideally suited for redevelopment as a tourist centre when it closed as a going concern in 1960, and now constitutes the main industry in the village.
Suffolk Punch
The Suffolk Punch is one of the breeds of draft horses. The Suffolk Punch has a powerful arching neck, strong upright shoulders, a short strong back, wide hipbones, and a high tail. Due to their extreme draftiness, the clean legs of the Suffolk Punch appear short. The Suffolk Punch has an average height of 16.1 hands, but many stallions stand 17 or more hands. It can weigh 1,700 to 2,000 pounds.
All the animals of this breed are chestnut-colored, with shades ranging from light golden to dark brown.
Traditionally the spelling was "Chesnut" and is still used today on the Suffolk Punch Society
documentation. Some white markings occur, but they're less prominent than in other breeds. The Suffolk
Punch descends from the medieval 'Great Horse' brought to England in 1066 by Wiliam the Conqueror. It was
developed in eastern England's Norfolk and Suffolk counties for farm work. The Suffolk Punch is one of the
oldest draft breeds, possibly dating back to 1506.To plow the heavy clay soil of Suffolk, the farmers needed a horse with power, stamina, health, longevity, and docility. Because the farmers used these horses on their land, they seldom had any to sell, which helped to keep the breed pure and unchanged. By its reputation for easy handling with power the name was also used for a British brand of lawn mower.
Of all the draft breeds, the Suffolk is one of the oldest in existence with records dating back to 1880. All living Suffolks can be traced to one stallion, Crisp's Horse of Ufford, foaled in the 1768, known as the foundation stallion of the breed.