Thetford
Thetford is also the name of a town in Vermont, United States.
Thetford is a
market town and
civil parish in the
Breckland area of
Norfolk,
England. Thetford has many picturesque buildings built in the local flint stone. In recent years (since 2001) it has become home to a substantial
Portuguese immigrant population.
The civil parish has an area of
29.55 km² and in the
2001 census had a population of 21588 in 8882 households. For the purposes of local government, the parish falls within the
district of
Breckland.
[Office for National Statistics & Norfolk County Council (2001). Census population and household counts for unparished urban areas and all parishes. Retrieved December 2, 2005.]In the
Anglo-Saxon period, it was the home of the monarchs of
East Anglia and was seat of a
bishopric. Castle Hill is the highest
Norman motte in
England though no trace remains of the castle which once surmounted it, The mound (motte) is open to the public, and provides an excellent view of the town from its summit or the extensive earthworks. It is situated in a public park, near the Three Nuns Bridges and close to the town centre overlooking the rivers.
Thetford contains a ruined
Cluniac priory which dates from the 12th century and whose remains are open to the public. The
Priory was closed in the
Reformation. It is reputedly haunted and was the subject of an episode of the television series
Ghosthunters, another episode of which featured the alleged haunting of the Bell Inn also in Thetford.
Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk and other early
Tudor Dynasty officials were once buried here before their removal to
Framlingham.
In the eighteenth century the town was the birthplace of famous radical
Thomas Paine, a statue of him stands in King Street in Thetford, Norfolk: his place of birth; the statue holds a quill and his book, The
Rights of Man; the book is upside down.
Today, the surrounding
Breckland has been largely replaced by the
Thetford Forest though Thetford Chase remains.
More recently, the town is notable for being the filming location of the television sitcom
Dad's Army.
Thetford is on the
A11 road between
Norwich and
London and is served by
Thetford railway station, served by the oddly named
One (railway) running services between Norwich and
Cambridge, and by Central Trains, running services from Norwich to
Liverpool via either
Sheffield and
Manchester or
Birmingham and Manchester. From Cambridge, regular services run to
London King's Cross.
Since
1966 Thetford has a partner city in
Germany:
Hürth near
Köln (Cologne).
* for Thetford.
*
Information from Genuki Norfolk on Thetford.
*
Thetford Tourism website
