07/09/2026
Grime’s Grave - Prehistoric Flint Mine.
Lynford, Thetford, Norfolk.
• Hidden on a low chalk ridge within Norfolks’ Breckland Heath, you’ll find the incredible prehistoric site of Grimes Graves.
• Named after the God Grim (also known as Woden) Grimes Graves is the largest known Neolithic flint mine in the country, and excitingly, the only one of its kind that is open to visitors.
When this Neolithic lunar landscape of backfilled mineshafts (The Hollows) were discovered by the Anglo-Saxons, they believed it had been dug by Grim, hence how the name Grims Graves first came to be.
• During the late Neolithic, around 2600 BC, more than 400 mineshafts and pits were dug here using antler picks. So far, 433 have been discovered, 28 of these having now been excavated, with Pit 1 open to visitors.
• Don a hard hat and descend 9m down the pit shaft into a
‘devils hole’ to see the 6 galleries worked by the miners some 5000 years ago.
• When it was excavated in 1914, discarded antler picks were found along with clay bowls, carved chalk objects, Neolithic bat bones and evidence of ritual fires and feasting.
• Flint was highly prized and used to make a plethora of tools such as axes and arrowheads.
The lunar landscape is simply stunning and you really do feel like you’re walking in the footsteps of our Stone Age ancestors.
Afterwards, we stopped at nearby in Lynford Arboretum for a drink & snack and had a stroll around the lake.
If you’d like to visit Grime’s Graves when you stay at Willow Barn it is a 25 min car ride and the postcode for your Sat Nav is IP26 5DR.
