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.

Contents

1 History
2 Location
3 References
4 External links

History

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.

Location

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).

References

External links

[Map sources] for Thetford.
[Information from Genuki Norfolk] on Thetford.
[Thetford Tourism website]

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