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Thetford

Coordinates:52°25′N0°44′E/ 52.41°N 0.74°E/52.41; 0.74
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This article is about the town in Norfolk. For other places, seeThetford (disambiguation).

Thetford
King Street, Thetford
Thetford is located in Norfolk
Thetford
Thetford
Location withinNorfolk
Area29.55 km2(11.41 sq mi)
Population24,340 (2011 Census)
•Density824/km2(2,130/sq mi)
OS grid referenceTL8783
Civil parish
  • Thetford
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townTHETFORD
Postcode districtIP24
Dialling code01842
PoliceNorfolk
FireNorfolk
AmbulanceEast of England
UK Parliament
Websitethetfordtowncouncil.gov.uk
List of places
UK
England
Norfolk
52°25′N0°44′E/ 52.41°N 0.74°E/52.41; 0.74

Thetfordis amarket townandcivil parishin theBreckland DistrictofNorfolk,England. It is on theA11 roadbetweenNorwichandLondon,just east ofThetford Forest.The civil parish, covering an area of 29.55 km2(11.41 sq mi), in 2011 had a population of 24,340.[1]

There has been a settlement at Thetford since theIron Age,and parts of the town predate theNorman Conquest;Thetford Castlewas established shortly thereafter.Roger Bigodfounded theCluniacPriory of St Maryin 1104, which became the largest and most important religious institution in Thetford. The town was badly hit by theDissolution of the Monasteries,including the castle's destruction, but was rebuilt in 1574 whenElizabeth Iestablished a town charter. AfterWorld War II,Thetford became an "overspilltown ", taking people from London, as a result of which its population increased substantially.[2]

Thetford railway stationis located on theBreckland lineand is one of the best surviving pieces of 19th-century railway architecture in East Anglia.

Name[edit]

The origin of the name Thetford is unclear. The site was an important crossing of theRiver Little Ouse,so one possibility is that the settlement drew its name from the Anglo-SaxonTheodford orpeople'sford.[3]It is also unclear if the nearbyRiver Thetis named after the crossing or the later settlement.[4]

History[edit]

Early history[edit]

Brecklandwas used as an excavation site for flint tools around 2000 BC. During theIron Age,a fort was established onIcknield Wayat the site of Thetford Castle.[3]Thetford was an important tribal centre for theIceniduring the late Iron Age and early Roman period, withCastle Hilland Gallows Hill being sites of particular note.[5]During the Saxon period it was the principal centre of the eastern Heptarchy and a regular battle site between locals and the Viking invaders.[6]

A mint was built in Thetford in the 9th century.[7]There is evidence of coins minted in Thetford from the time of KingCanuteto the reign ofKing John.[8]Amonasterywas established around 1020 and agrammar schoolwas operating since before theNorman Conquestof 1066.[3]The town greatly prospered during the reign ofEdward the Confessor(1042–1066), and at one point there were 944 free Burgesses living in Thetford.[6]TheDomesday Bookof 1086 estimated the population of Thetford to have grown to between 4000 and 4500 people, which would have been the sixth largest town in Britain at the time.[7]The Book lists William of Bello Fargo as the Bishop of Thetford at the time.[9]The bishopric had moved here fromNorth Elmhamin 1071 and stayed in Thetford until moving toNorwichin 1096.[3]

Ruins of thePriory of St Mary

In 1067–1069,Thetford Castlewas built on the ruins of an Iron Age fort at Castle Hill. It is believed to have been constructed either byRalph Guader,Earl of East Anglia, orRoger Bigod,his successor as Earl, who is known to have orderedBungayandFramlinghamcastles to have been built in Suffolk. In 1104, Bigod founded theCluniacPriory of St Mary.The priory grew rapidly, with an influx of monks fromLewes,and in 1107 it was moved to a larger site on the other side of the river where the ruins remain today. It became the largest and most important religious institution in Thetford.[10]

The Norfolk LentAssizeswere held at Thetford from 1264 because there was only one Assize for both Norfolk andSuffolk.Thetford, being close to the border between the two, was convenient for both. However, after much pressure, an Act of Parliament was passed in 1832 to transfer them to Norwich.[11]In 1373,John of Gaunt,the Duke of Lancaster, was responsible for altering the administrative makeup of the town, promoting the mayor to its most important official, subjecting the bailiff and the coroner to report to him. Thetford had its own coroner, courts and legal officials, without depending on those for the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk.[12]

Tudor history to present[edit]

Deed of Surrender ofThetford Priory,1540

Henry VIIIsentAnne Boleyn's father,Thomas,as part of a Commission to assess Thetford in 1527. The Commission concluded that the town had fallen into "great ruin and decay" and that the burgesses of the town had squandered rents and dues which belonged to the King. Thetford was struck hard by theDissolution of the Monasteriesin the 1530s and 1540s. A formal complaint was raised by the mayors and burgesses to Thomas Cromwell in 1539, arguing that many of the town's inhabitants would fall into extreme poverty because their livelihoods depended on pilgrims visiting Thetford.Thetford Priorywas closed down in 1540 and fell into the possession ofThomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk.In 1574,Elizabeth Igranted a Charter of Incorporation to the town, setting up a governing body of a mayor, ten burgesses and twenty commoners to meet in the Guildhall and redevelop the town main streets, houses and shops. Elizabeth arrived in Thetford on 27 August 1578 to survey developments, holding a Privy Council meeting at Sir Edward Clere's Place House, now Nunnery Place.[13]A lot of material from the decaying priory and religious buildings in the town were used to save building costs in the building of King's House and other buildings in Thetford.[7]

In 1819 there was a local desire to develop Thetford into a spa town modelled onBath,CheltenhamandHarrogate.A pump room was built over the spring at Nuns Bridges and the Thetford Mineral Spring Company was established. The mayor financed a new gravel path along the bank of the Little Ouse, which was named Spring Walk. The plan did not succeed; by 1838 the pump room was closed.[14]In 1835 the old Corporation of Thetford was abolished, and a new one set up a mayor, four aldermen and twelve councillors. The town was represented by two MPs until 1868 when it lost a seat to Scotland.[15]

DrAllan Glaisyer Minns,born inInagua,theBahamas,became the first black man to become a mayor in Britain when he was elected as Mayor of Thetford in 1904.[16]

In 1912, more than 30,000 troops participated in military manoeuvres on the heath land outside the town. Over 700 men from the town fought inWorld War I;a memorial was erected in 1921 with the names of over 100 men who died during the war. Locally in the wooded and sand like areas,[clarification needed]the trial tests of the first tank took place in total secrecy in early 1915.[17]At the end ofWorld War II,Thetford still only had a population of around 5000 people. In the 1950s, the borough council drew up a plan with theLondon County Councilto relocate Londoners and several businesses to Thetford and double the population.[7]By the late 1980s the population of Thetford had reached around 21,000 people. This meant that Thetford grew faster than any other town in Norfolk.[18]

Geography[edit]

Bridge over the Little Ouse in Thetford

Thetford is situated in the south of Norfolk, close to the county boundary with Suffolk. By road it is 33.8 miles (54.4 km) northeast ofCambridgeand 30.7 miles (49.4 km) southwest of Norwich. It lies on theRiver Little Ouse.On the western side of Thetford isThetford Forest,which is heavily forested with pine trees. Brettenham Heath National Nature Reserve is to the northeast, near the hamlet ofRoudham.[19]To the southeast of Thetford is Nunnery Lakes Nature Reserve, covering about 200 acres, with breckland heath, woodland, fen and open water habitats and 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) of paths.[20]

Economy and services[edit]

The market withThetford Guildhallin the background

The Thetford Borough Police Force was established in 1836, and in 1857 the small force joinedNorfolk County Constabulary.Thetford Fire Brigade was established in 1880.[15]

The Thetford Gas Company, founded in 1838, proved very short-lived until Thetford Gasworks opened on Bury Road in 1845.[clarification needed]In 1848, gas street lighting was installed in Thetford. From 1877 the town was provided with a clean water supply thanks to a new reservoir and steam engine on Gallows Hill to pump fresh water into the town. In 1929 the Anglian Electricity Supply Company began supplying electricity to the town, which was completed in 1933.[15]

Thetford was the headquarters of Tulip International, large-scale manufacturers ofbacon,beef andpork.[21]In March 2007 the factory laid off three quarters of their workforce in Thetford with the loss of 350 jobs,[22]and the factory later closed in 2010. In January 2018 it was announced that a new retail park and restaurant had been approved on the factory site with over 7,367 square metres (79,300 sq ft) of retail floor space. The development was initiated by Stapleford Thetford Ltd. as part of the Thetford-Cambridge-Norwich Technology Corridor.[23]The market is held outsideThetford Guildhallin the town centre on Tuesdays and Saturdays.[24]

TheBritish Trust for Ornithologyhas its headquarters at The Nunnery in Thetford.[25]

Landmarks[edit]

Thetford contains the ruins ofThetford CastleandThetford Priory,which was closed during theReformation.The Grade II listed timber-framedBell Innin the town was first mentioned in 1493 and was used as a coaching inn on the Norwich-London road until 1845 when it became connected by railway.[26]TheBlack Horsepublic house dates from the mid 18th century, and is grade II listed.[27]Thetford Warren Lodge was built in around 1400 by the Prior of Thetford to protect gamekeepers and hunters against poachers, and was later used to harvest rabbits.[28]

TheCharles Burrell Museumopened in 1991 in the former Paint Shop ofCharles Burrell & Sonson Minstergate in Thetford. The museum is dedicated to steam power and steam transport.[29]The Ancient House Museum is situated in an oak-framed Tudor merchant's house on White Hart Street. It contains replicas of theThetford Hoardand has numerous displays about flinting, rabbit warrens and wildlife.[20]The Thetford Academy, Norfolkwas established through the merger of Charles Burrell Humanities School and Rosemary Musker High School in September 2010.[30]

Culture[edit]

The external scenes for the BBC TV seriesDad's Armywere filmed in and around the town, with Thetford'sflintbuildings doubling forWalmington-on-Sea.[31]TheDad's Army Museumis housed in part ofThetford Guildhall.

Media[edit]

Local news and television programmes are provided byBBC EastandITV Anglia.Television signals are received from theTacolnestonand local relay transmitters.[32]

The town's local radio stations areBBC Radio Norfolkon 104.4 FM,Greatest Hits Radio Norfolk & North Suffolkon 96.7 FM,Heart Easton 102.4 FM, and Thetford Radio, a community radio station.[33]

The local newspapers are theThetford & Brandon Timesand theEastern Daily Press.

Sport[edit]

Thetford Golf Club

The local football club,Thetford Town,plays in theEastern Counties Football League.[34]Thetford Rugby Union Football Club is based on Mundford Road just outside Thetford, with its first team playing in the Eastern Counties London 3.[35]

Thetford Town Cricket Club[36]have two adult teams competing in the Norfolk Cricket Alliance and one in the Norfolk Friendly Alliance. The club also boasts a thriving junior section.

A swimming team called the Thetford Dolphins is based at Breckland Leisure Centre's Waterworld swimming pools.[37]World champion triathleteChrissie Wellingtonis a former member of this swimming club.[38]

Thetford Golf Club, to the northwest of the town in Thetford Forest Park, was established in 1912 with a course originally designed by Charles H. Mayo, and later alterations by James Braid and Philip Mackenzie Ross. The construction of the second Thetford bypass resulted in five of the course holes being lost and having to be re-fashioned by Cameron Sinclair and Donald Steel.[39]

Transport[edit]

Thetford railway station

Thetford railway stationis located on theBreckland linebetweenElyandNorwichand opened in 1845.[40]The station building was designed in aNeo-Jacobeanstyle and constructed using local Breckland flint, and extended in 1889. It has one of the best preserved set of railway buildings in East Anglia, retaining nine separate buildings that have survived from the nineteenth century, and has been Grade II listed since 1971.[41]TheThetford to Bury St Edmunds lineopened on 1 March 1876, and included a second station in the town,Thetford Bridge.The line closed to passengers in 1953 and goods in 1960.[42][43]

The town sits on the historicturnpike roadbetween London and Norwich, which later became theA11.The first bypass opened in 1968, followed by a second in 1987.[44][45]A high speeddual carriagewaylink from Thetford towards London opened in December 2014, which removed the remaining 9 miles (14 km) of single carriageway viaElveden.[46]The other main roads through the town are theA134fromColchestertoKing's Lynn,[44]and the A1066 towardsDiss.[47]

TheNational Cycle Route 13links Thetford toGateley,nearFakenham.[48]

Notable people[edit]

See also:Category:People from Thetford
Statue of Thomas Paine, Thetford
  • Theodosia Ann Dean(1819-1843), missionary; was born in the town
  • Allan Glaisyer Minns(1858-1930), Doctor and the first black man to become a mayor in Britain, was mayor of Thetford
  • Allan Noel Minns(1891-1921), latter's son, Doctor and one of first British Army officers of Afro-Caribbean descent to serve in World War I; buried in Thetford Cemetery.[49]
  • Thomas Paine(1737-1809), political radical, involved in both theAmerican Revolutionand theFrench Revolution,was born in the town.
  • Duleep Singh(1838-1893), last Maharaja of the Punjab, lived part of his exile at nearby Elveden. An equestrian statue of the Maharaja was unveiled in 1999 at Butten Island in the town, which benefited from his and his sons' generosity.[50][51]

Twin towns[edit]

Thetford is twinned with the towns of:[52]

Freedom of the Town[edit]

The following people and military units have received theFreedom of the Townof Thetford.

Individuals[edit]

  • William Ellis Clarke: 1973.[53]
  • David Osborne: 14 September 2019. Town Historian[54]

Military Units[edit]

References[edit]

Citations

  1. ^"Open Space Parish Schedule 2015%20%5BT-Z%5D"(PDF).Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 18 October 2015.Retrieved15 October2014./
  2. ^Dickinson, G. C. (April 1962). "Overspill and Town Development in England and Wales, 1945–1971".Town Planning Review.33(1): 49.doi:10.3828/tpr.33.1.3x8040m7345q21p2.
  3. ^abcdMeeres 2010,p. 4.
  4. ^Blomefield, Francis (1805)."An Essay Towards A Topographical History of the County of Norfolk: Volume 2 – Thetford – OF THE NAME AND ORIGIN OF THE CITY".British History Online.p. 1.Retrieved7 August2018.
  5. ^"The Age of Boudica".Thetford Town Council.Retrieved17 February2020.
  6. ^abWilkinson 1822,p. 11.
  7. ^abcd"Take a tour of Thetford's history".BBC. 11 May 2004.Retrieved17 February2020.
  8. ^"Thetford, chapter 24: Of the Mint Pages 131-132 An Essay Towards A Topographical History of the County of Norfolk: Volume 2".British History Online.W Miller, 1805.Retrieved17 October2023.
  9. ^"The Domesday Book Online – Landowners A-C".
  10. ^"The Norman Age".Thetford Town Council.Retrieved17 February2020.
  11. ^Hansard's Parliamentary Debates(1832), p.1267.
  12. ^"The Mercantile Age".Thetford Town Council.Retrieved17 February2020.
  13. ^"Tudors and Jacobeans".Thetford Town Council.Retrieved17 February2020.
  14. ^"The Age of Reason".Thetford Town Council.Retrieved19 February2020.
  15. ^abc"The Age of Municipal Democracy".Thetford Town Council.Retrieved19 February2020.
  16. ^Month, Norfolk Black History."Dr. Allan Glaisyer Minns: Britain's First Black Mayor – Local Black History – History – Norfolk Black History Month".Archived fromthe originalon 12 October 2010.Retrieved7 September2009.
  17. ^"The Age of Global Wars".Thetford Town Council.Retrieved20 February2020.
  18. ^"Town Expansion and Migration".Thetford's Great Heritage.Thetford Town Council. Archived fromthe originalon 1 February 2016.Retrieved12 April2016.
  19. ^Google(17 February 2020)."Thetford"(Map).Google Maps.Google.Retrieved17 February2020.
  20. ^ab"Activities".Thetford Town Council.Retrieved20 February2020.
  21. ^"Retail Business: Market reports, Issues 407-412".EIU. 1992. p. 35.
  22. ^"Thetford firm to lay off 350 workers".Eastern Daily Press.16 March 2007.Retrieved20 February2020.
  23. ^"Thetford retail park approved for pork factory sit".BBC. 15 January 2018.Retrieved20 February2020.
  24. ^"Markets".Thetford Town Council.Retrieved20 February2020.
  25. ^"History".British Trust for Ornithology.25 August 2010.Retrieved1 February2023.
  26. ^"The Bell Inn, King Street".Norfolk Heritage Explorer.Retrieved20 February2020.
  27. ^Historic England."Black Horse Public House (1297894)".National Heritage List for England.Retrieved13 July2015.
  28. ^"Thetford Warren Lodge".English Heritage.Retrieved20 February2020.
  29. ^"Charles Burrell Museum".Steam Heritage.Retrieved16 February2020.
  30. ^"Thetford Academy put in special measures".BBC. 28 March 2013.Retrieved16 February2020.
  31. ^"Dad's Army".Literary Norfolk.Retrieved17 February2020.
  32. ^"Thetford (Norfolk, England) Freeview Light transmitter".May 2004.
  33. ^"Town's new family-friendly radio station launched in a bid to" connect the community through the airwaves "".8 April 2020.
  34. ^"Thetford Town".Football Club History Database.Retrieved17 February2020.
  35. ^"Thetford Rugby Football Club".Pitchero.com.Retrieved17 February2020.
  36. ^Thetford Town Cricket Club
  37. ^"Thetford Dolphins SC".Swimming.org.Retrieved17 February2020.
  38. ^"Club records are broken as Thetford Dolphins shine in Wisbech".Thetford and Brandon Times.12 October 2016.Retrieved17 February2020.
  39. ^"Thetford Golf Club".Top100golfcourses.com.Retrieved17 February2020.
  40. ^Meeres 2010,p. 140.
  41. ^Historic England."Thetford Railway Station (1219218)".National Heritage List for England.Retrieved17 February2020.
  42. ^Butt 1995,p. 228.
  43. ^"Thetford to Bury St Edmunds railway line".Suffolk Heritage.Retrieved17 February2020.
  44. ^abMeeres 2010,p. 29.
  45. ^"The A11 London—Norwich Trunk Road (Thetford Bypass) Order 1987".Legislation.gov.uk.28 September 1987.Retrieved17 February2020.
  46. ^A11 Fiveways to Thetford – One Year After(PDF)(Report). Highways England. August 2017. p. 4.Retrieved17 February2020.
  47. ^"Three road works in two weeks to bring disruption to major route".East Anglian Daily Press.24 November 2018.Retrieved17 February2020.
  48. ^"National Cycle Network Route 13".Visit Norfolk.Retrieved17 February2020.
  49. ^"Casualty Details: Allan Noel Minns".Commonwealth War Graves Commission.Retrieved17 August2020.
  50. ^Royal tribute to first Sikh settlerBBC News,29 July 1999.
  51. ^Duleep Singh StatueArchived4 March 2007 at theWayback Machine
  52. ^About the Association,Thetford Twinning Association, archived fromthe originalon 29 January 2010,retrieved14 July2010
  53. ^Pollitt, Michael (9 January 2014)."William Ellis Clarke, MBE: 'Mr Thetford.' One of the architects who shaped the modern face of the town".Eastern Daily Press.
  54. ^Hurst, Kevin (14 September 2019)."Thetford historian honoured with freedom of the town".Buryfreepress.co.uk.Retrieved16 February2020.
  55. ^"RAF parade marks freedom of town".BBC News.9 June 2019.
  56. ^Langford, Mark (7 June 2019)."RAF Honington gets ready for Freedom of Thetford parade".East Anglian Daily Times.

Sources

External links[edit]

Wikivoyage has a travel guide forThetford.
Wikimedia Commons has media related toThetford.
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