History of the Theberton Round House ~ Griffmonsters Great Walks

General Representative Walk Image from this walk

A trek from Thetford to the start of the Peddars Way

Thetford is the closest town to the start to the Peddars Way and there is no public transport between Thetford Railway Station and the starting point at Knetishall Heath. Looking at the OS Map, there is no direct route other than to walk along the main A1066 Thetford to Diss road. This is a busy road with no pathway and there is a good 4 miles walking before turning off down village lanes through Rushford where a little peace and serenity is regained to set the tone for the Peddars Way.

Walk Statistics

Start location: Thetford
End location: Knetishall Heath
Distance: miles ( km)
Total Gain: ft ( metre)
Total Descent: ft ( metre)
Min Height: ft ( metre)
Max Height: ft ( metre)
Walk Time:
Walk Grade: Tiresome road walking to start with, then easy
Terrain: Country Lane, Permissive Path, Road

Maps:

The following maps and services can assist in navigating this route. There are links to printed maps and links to downloadable GPX route data for importing into navigational software and apps.

Ordnance Survey Explorer Map: OS Explorer 229 - Thetford Forest in The Brecks
GPX Route File

Walk Notes

Route: Follow the A1066 out of Thetford until you come to a right hand turn to Rushford. Passing through Rushford, keep bearing round to the left on the country lanes. This will lead onto a straight section of road within a mainly wooded area where the starting point of the Peddars Way is located. It is clearly signposted on the left, together with a small car park and the waymarker for the Icknield Way on the right. The trail leads through the trees, across the Little Ouse River, which forms the boundary between Norfolk and Suffolk and back up to the A1066. Continue over the main road and into the forest on West Harling Heath. There are numerous tracks on the right that lead through the forest to reach the Dower House campsite.

Pub: The Travellers Rest, Knetishall Heath: 52.428987 0.895112 Plain and simple bar on the campsite offering pub food and keg beer.

Walk Feature: Kentishall Heath: Knettishall Heath Country Park is 350 acres of heathland, grassland and mixed woodland on the Breckland Heath. The Little Ouse river runs along the northern edge of the Heath and a number of walk trails are set out throughout the park. The Riverside Walk is an ideal route for a hot day, it also passes the grassland area grazed by Exmoor ponies and Hebridean sheep. Hut Hill, a bronze age burial mound over 4000 years old, can be discovered as part of the Heathland Trail whilst the Woodland Walk includes oak, Scots pine and birch and many more fine trees. Wildlife watching can be rewarding, deer live in the wooded areas and Common Lizards bask on open, sunny spots on the heath. The park is also the junction of three long distance trails, the Peddars Way, Icknield Way and Angles Way fan out into the wider countryside for the more serious walkers.

Notes: Knetishall Heath is less than 40 miles from where I live in Suffolk but to get there is quite an undertaking using public transport. Trains can get you through to Thetford but this involves changes at Lowestoft and Norwich and takes half a day to complete. Knowing this, I had allowed an additional day to that of my Northamptonshire friends who were due to join me the next day and were being given a lift first thing in the morning. My journey would therefore begin at Thetford and allow me to walk the initial mile or so along the Peddars Way up to West Harling Heath where there is a campsite nestling within the woodland. This would give me an easy day before the rigours of tackling the Peddars Way itself. According to various sites on the web, there used to be a bus to the start of the Peddars Way. Unfortunately this service no longer appears to operate which means this terrible section along the A1066 is unavoidable if one wants to get directly to the start of the National Trail. I usually time my walks, and over time have realised on level ground, with a fully loaded pack on my back, I usually average about 2mph including stops and 3mph on shorter sections with no stops. This has now become a rule of thumb for planning walks. The initial section down to the turn off to Rushford I managed to do well in excess of 4mph such was my want to get away from this busy road. That amazed me! Knettishall Heath is the host for the start (or end depending on direction walking) to the Peddars Way, the Icknield Way and the Angles Way. The Peddars Way marker is on the opposite side of the road to the Icknield Way marker and it is worth pausing to reflect that this ancient path runs from Hunstanton, down to Ivinghoe Beacon, as indicated on the Icknield Way marker (105 miles) and then on the Ridgeway through to Avebury and eventually the Wessex Ridgeway down to Dorset.

It is worth noting that an alteernative route would be to follow the Icknield Way Thetford extension which also connects Thetford and Knetishall Heath although this is considerably longer.

Accommodation: The Dower House Campsite

Transport: Train Saxmundham to Lowestoft/Lowestoft to Norwich/Norwich to Thetford

Features

Abstract

This paper reconstructs the historical development of the Round House formerly located on Pretty Road (earlier Nuttery Lane) in Theberton, Suffolk. Using nineteenth- and twentieth-century cartography, local testimony, and place-name analysis, it establishes a probable construction date in the early nineteenth century, identifies likely abandonment during the 1940s, and explores the hypothesis that “Pretty Road” derives from a medieval surname rather than descriptive language.

2. Cartographic Chronology

The earliest cartographic evidence dates the Round House to at least 1837 ^{Ordnance Survey mapping, 1837 and later editions.}. The building appears on maps revised in 1945–46 ^{Ordnance Survey sheet revised 1945–46.}, but is absent on a sheet revised in 1951–52 ^{Ordnance Survey sheet revised 1951–52.}. Local testimony suggests it was already in ruins during the 1940s ^{Local oral testimony.}.

3. Function: A Gamekeeper’s Cottage?

Local recollection identifies the Round House as a gamekeeper’s cottage ^Ibid..

4. Nuttery Lane

The earlier name “Nuttery Lane” appears agriculturally descriptive. The term “nuttery” historically referred to a plantation of nut-bearing trees ^{A. D. Mills, A Dictionary of English Place-Names, 2nd edn (Oxford, 2011).}.

5. The Toponym ‘Pretty Road’

5.1 Medieval Surname Origins

The surname Pretty derives from Middle English forms such as praty and prety^{P. H. Reaney and R. M. Wilson, A Dictionary of English Surnames, 3rd edn (Oxford, 1997).}. Medieval variants include Pretye and Pritty ^{J. McClure, Medieval English Surnames (Oxford, 1995).}. The surname is recorded locally in medieval Theberton ^{Chronicles of Theberton (Theberton, n.d.).}.

5.2 Survival in Field-Names

English field-names frequently preserve surnames long after family extinction ^{Margaret Gelling and Ann Cole, The Landscape of Place-Names (Stamford, 2000).}. A possessive construction such as “Pretty’s croft” could readily evolve into “Pretty Road” ^{Mills, A Dictionary of English Place-Names, pp. xxi–xxii.}.

6. Conclusion

Cartographic and linguistic evidence together suggest that the Round House was active from at least 1837 until the mid-twentieth century, and that “Pretty Road” most plausibly preserves a medieval surname rather than an aesthetic descriptor.

Bibliography

Campbell, Bruce M. S., English Seigniorial Agriculture, 1250–1450 (Cambridge, 2000).
Gelling, Margaret, and Ann Cole, The Landscape of Place-Names (Stamford, 2000).
McClure, J., Medieval English Surnames (Oxford, 1995).
Mills, A. D., A Dictionary of English Place-Names, 2nd edn (Oxford, 2011).
Reaney, P. H., and R. M. Wilson, A Dictionary of English Surnames, 3rd edn (Oxford, 1997).
Chronicles of Theberton (Theberton, n.d.).
Ordnance Survey maps for Theberton, various editions (1837–1952).

Images

Route Validation Cards

Validation Date - 30/05/20080

Time of Walk: 13:00:00 to 16:00:00
Validators: Griff
Weather Conditions: Clear blue summer skies, warm
Notes: Initial route undertaken

Summary of Document Changes

Last Updated: 2026-03-30

2011-01-17 : Initial publication
2021-03-17 : Update website improvements and removal of ViewRanger reliance
2021-12-01 : Removal of ViewRanger links due to its imminent demise
2022-02-23 : Convert to summary format
2026-01-12 : Major website update with all walks recast to the new format

Griffmonsters Great Walks

Route details, maps, pubs, features, local history and folklore for a wide variety of walks focusing primarily on Norfolk and Suffolk

Friday, 27 February 2026