(kno)+Topography

//Dotted line = modern parish boundary; orange line = 20 m contour; green outlines = woodland; KC=Knodishall Common//

The parish of Knodishall occupies a large section of the upper reaches of the Hundred River. Most of its farms are situated on the western 'clay hills' at a height of about 20 m. The northern portion, centred on Redhouse Farm, is the site of the hamlet of Buxlow. The brick-built house has been dated to the 17th century and is thought to have been the site of Buxlow manor.

The nearby ruined church was abandoned when the depopulated hamlet was merged with Knodishall. On the modern map this area is called Knodishall Green although it is well and truely enclosed arable land.

Knodishall has another area of common land known as Knodishall Common (KC on the above map) to the south. This is part of a patch of common heath once shared with Leiston. The Leiston portion was partly enclosed by the time the Tithe Map was made. It was further developed for housing as a consequence of the industrialisation of Leiston when it became known as Coldfair Green. After boundary changes, which in the 1950s paved the way for a large housing development south of the Hundred River in Hazelwood, Coldfair Green was transferred to Knodishall and is now the main community focus for the village.

The southern boundary of Knodishall runs along a tract of former heathland and sheepwalk. The boundary at Friston Moor indicates the site of common land shared with Friston and it now follows the line of the agreed field boundaries that came after enclosure. The boundary in part was fixed by aligning it with strip fields which probably date to the open field systems of this group of parishes. The name 'osier-ground' where the tributaries of the Hundred River enter the parish is indicative of an old fenland. The land was reclaimed by straightening the main course of the river and the old bed is now fossilised in tortuous sections of the parish boundary which bear no relation to the current field boundaries.

From south to north Knodishall's lands range from amost pure sand, which is intensively irrigated to grow onions and carrots to the heavy soil of the clay hills sown with barley, rape and peas.