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Wortham Ling nature reserve adjoins the River Waveney in the south, being traversed by several rural lanes and the Angles Way long distance footpath skirting its southern boundary. The Ling is the largest lowland heath in the area and maintained as a nature reserve by the Suffolk Wildlife Trust who started to take an interest in the Ling in 1982. It is also a registered common and was once used to graze the villagers' sheep and geese.

It is a widespread misconception that commons were traditionally areas of land with a universal right of use or access. Fact is that they were usually privately owned lands where the common rightholders, who generally occupied properties adjacent to the common, had associated rights. At Wortham Ling these were the rights of grazing, turbary (the right to cut turves) and estovers (the right to collect wood). Nowadays commons have free and full public access, though this is on foot only, and no equestrian or vehicular access is permitted.

It is believed that up to 200 sheep once used to graze the Ling, a practice that gradually declined after the war. The last sheep are thought to have been removed in the late 1960s. The thriving rabbit population helps to keep the grass short but the chalk grassland is mown every year and some patches of gorse are cut back in order to maintain the habitats. Wortham Ling today is how many Suffolk villages once looked and in this it is notable not just for its natural interest but also as an historical record.

Created: Thu, 25 Mar 2010, Updated: Mon, 29 Mar 2010