A six-month community campaign has helped safeguard Hadleigh’s medieval track.

The Hadleigh Society, with the support of The Tree Council and nearby residents, has successfully secured protected status for the track and established new hedging along the site.

Concerns were first raised last summer that the rural bridleway was being threatened by housing development in the surrounding area, prompting a deeper investigation into its history.

Archivists at the society then made an incredible discovery - that the track, known as a Holloway, dates from the late medieval period and has been known as Bacon Lane for 500 years.

East Anglian Daily Times:

Richard Fletcher, chairman of the Hadleigh Society, said: “The bridleway is a small, historic gem with its canopy of hedges and trees, and related wildlife.”

The track has now been assigned as a non-designated Heritage Asset in Hadleigh and is recorded in Suffolk’s Historic Environment Record as an important local archaeological feature, meaning it is seen as a site at risk of damage by new development.

The Hadleigh Society, with the help of local volunteers from the Hadleigh Environmental Action Team and a grant from The Tree Council, has also undertaken extensive re-hedging of the sunken lane to restore the natural environment.

Mr Fletcher said: “This will hopefully secure the lane’s continued distinctive rural character and enhance both the town’s cultural heritage and its natural environment.”

The discovery of Bacon Lane’s heritage adds to the almost 100 places in the town the Hadleigh Society has identified as historically significant and worthy of special consideration in planning policies and decisions.

The society was formed in 1982 to raise public awareness of the rich history of Hadleigh and to help conserve this heritage during development.