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East Winch Common is an SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest) notified under Section
28 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 as amended.
The Common is some 25.6 hectares (63.25 acres) in size. It has been common land for over two hundred years. The Common is now grazed with sheep or cattle.
It is under the care of the Norfolk Wildlife Trust.
Find the Common here:- Post Code PE32 1NP Grid reference TF 698161 - OS Landranger 132 Some photographs of the common may be seen here
Common Rights.
Records show that 45 persons in the Parish have 'Common Rights'. These 'Rights' vary between the households allowing the householder to graze 1 or two head of cattle, or goats, or donkeys, or horses. In addition they have a right to take 'tree loppings', or in some cases to 'collect firewood' or 'peasticks'.
To see more about the site, and information on what to see, go to Norfolk Wildlife Trust at
Summer 2016 -
Summer 2016 -
£40,000 NWT restoration project a success
£40,000 NWT restoration project a success
In 2013 a grant of £39,224 was, awarded to the NWT through the Landfill Communities Fund. This enabled a programme of targeted improvement works, including tree thinning and installing the infrastructure needed to introduce cattle or ponies alongside sheep grazing the site.
To learn more about this project see below or visit the NWT website here
To see more about the site in general, and information on what to see, go to Norfolk Wildlife Trust at East Winch Common
Spring 2014 -
A transcription of the text of the Commons Commissioner's decision may be seen below - click on the file name to open it, or click on the blue download arrow to the right to download it.
OWNERSHIP OF THE COMMON.
The question of the ownership of the Common was decided at a hearing held in 1975 by a Commons Commissioner.
It was decided at that time that the Norfolk Naturalists Trust owned the lands, having been gifted to the Trust by a 'Deed of Gift', dated 2 August 1973, by Mr O Lancaster.
The grant to the Norfolk Wildlife Trust has been awarded from the Landfill Communities Fund which is financed by a tax imposed on companies disposing of waste materials by landfill.
The Common, as shown in the various photographs on this page, is a site of Special Scientific Interest (SSI) and a key site for some species of flora and fauna.In October 2013 The Norfolk Wildlife Trust was awarded a grant of £39,000 to support improvement works on the common. The aim is to improve the wet heath on the common by thinning the birch trees which have encroached onto the area. By errecting fences, animals will be introduced and encouraged to graze the land in order to reduce further encroachment by non native species. In this way, it is hoped that the common will become a more suitable habitat for flora and fauna which are natural to the area and allow it to thrive. In the past large areas of West Norfolk were covered with heathland; the common as it exists is a remnant of those times.
The COMMON and the A47 Concerns are being expressed by the Norfolk Wildlife Trust about the possible impact on The Common by any improvements to be made to the A47.These concerns are raised in respose to the 'A47 Alliance' recent call for a government committee to invest in improvement schemes along the length of the road.
Whilst a bypass around the village might help to protect the Common, the alternative idea of widening the road, making it a dual carriageway, could have the opposite effect causing some, or even all, of the Common to be lost forever.
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