The landscape surrounding Thurlow is the result of the joint effects of past glaciation and the agricultural alteration of the land by its inhabitants. The cross-section of Little Thurlow (fig. 1) shows the village in a wide shallow valley cut into the East Anglian plateau which gently dips toward the south - south east (fig. 2). This valley feature is the result of the advances and retreat of a glacier.
The last great glacial period to affect the British Isles was divided into five main periods when ice was piled upon the land, separated by times when the ice retreated and warmer conditions prevailed.

Fig 1
Fig 2.