Mildenhall Town FC

Continuing our journey across the county, our next stop is

@MildenhallTown FC, another Suffolk side that has enjoyed success in recent years. Last season, they won the Thurlow Nunn Premier Division and now compete in the @IsthmianLeague North.

Let’s take a closer look and #GetTheBadgeIn. Founded in 1898, Mildenhall Town FC has a long history. Their badge, in striking orange and black, is quartered traditionally, with two quarters showing the club's initials and a football in the third. Straightforward so far. The structure in the top-right quarter is the Mildenhall Market Cross, a hexagonal, timber-framed structure that was a focal point for the local market. Granted a market charter in the 1200s, Mildenhall’s Market Cross, built in the 1500s, is one of the few in England still in excellent condition. The Market Cross does appear on most Mildenhall symbols, including the local cricket team. In this sense, the badge is similar to @HarbTownFC in Leicestershire which also features its market building/grammer school on their badge.

Away from the badge, Mildenhall has a rich history. In 1942, the Mildenhall Treasure was discovered—34 Roman silver dishes and bowls decorated with depictions of Roman gods. Likely buried for safekeeping in the 5th century as Roman rule in Britain crumbled under Saxon raids. The owner never returned for them. I bet his wife never let him hear the end of it.

In the Domesday Book (1086), Mildenhall (listed as "Mildenhale") was recorded as having 64 families and over 1,000 sheep - clearly playing its role in the lucrative East Anglian wool trade. Later, during the 1381 Peasants’ Revolt, the prior of Bury St Edmunds Abbey was chased, caught, and killed in Mildenhall. Though sparked by the poll tax, the revolt took on a broader anti-establishment tone, and I can only assume the prior had said the wrong thing at some point.

Mildenhall might have grown further had it been connected to the main London to Norwich railway. However, local opposition at the time, fearing the railway would spoil the countryside, diverted the route elsewhere. This decision sidelined Mildenhall economically, causing it to decline (I feel modern Britain, with its legions of nimbys, could learn a lesson here...).

In 1934, Mildenhall found a new lease of life with the opening of RAF Mildenhall, initially the starting point of the Mildenhall to Melbourne air race. Amy Johnson, the famous record-breaking pilot, was the first to take off, cheered on by a crowd of 60,000. The race’s winner completed the journey in just 72 hours. During World War II, RAF Mildenhall played an immediate role. Just six hours after Neville Chamberlain declared war on 3rd September 1939, its aircraft bombed the German Navy in the Kiel Canal. Post-war, the United States Air Force took over, housing large aircraft like the B-50D Superfortress and, more recently, air-to-air refuelling planes.

And so, Mildenhall emerges as far more than the sleepy rural spot it’s often perceived to be. From hosting Roman elites to thriving in the wool trade, to breaking aviation records and being a base for aerial juggernauts, it holds a lot of secrets. As for the badge, I like its simple and striking design, though perhaps a future redesign might free up some space for a nod to Mildenhall’s Roman treasure or its aviation achievements.

Still, this newly promoted team is fighting to put Mildenhall on the map for its future glories as much as for its past ones.

#UpTheHalls