Thetford St Mary the Less, Norfolk Genealogy

England   Suffolk     Suffolk Parishes    Norfolk  Norfolk Parishes

Guide to Thetford, Suffolk and Norfolk family history and genealogy: parish registers, transcripts, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.

Parish History
THETFORD, a borough and market-town, having exclusive jurisdiction, and the head of a union, locally in the hundred of Shropham, W. division, of Norfolk, and the hundred of Lackford, W. division of Suffolk, 79 miles (N. N. E.) from London. Thetford comprises the parishes of St. Cuthbert, containing 1543; St. Peter, 1184; and St. Mary the Less. There are places of worship for the Society of Friends, Independents, Wesleyans, and Roman Catholics.

Thetford is a market town and civil parish in the Breckland district of Norfolk Thetford Wikipedia

It is the site of the ruined Thetford Priory Thetford Priory Wikipedia and Thetford Priory English Heritage website

The redundant Parish Church of St Mary the Less Bury Road Thetford Norfolk has been designated as a grade II* listed building British listed building The building is 11th century in origin but is largely 14th century with 15th century tower. The Diocese of Norwich has placed the redundant church for sale and planning consent for redevelopment to a four bedroom residential property lapsed without sale to a private owner.

The church is situated in Old Bury Road just south of the Little Ouse River and is near Bridge Street in the southern part of the town. The parish is extensive and extends beyond the Norfolk county boundary to include rural parts of Suffolk and Thetford Forest see Thetford Forest Wikipedia

The parish of St Mary the Less is partly in Norfolk and partly in Suffolk and neighbours Thetford St Cuthbert, Norfolk Thetford St Peter, Norfolk Elveden, Suffolk and Santon Downham, Suffolk

Francis Blomefield in the many chapters devoted to Thetford history refers to St Mary the Great 'Thetford, chapter 9: Of the state of the city in the Confessor's Time', An Essay towards a Topographical History of the County of Norfolk: volume 2 (1805), pp. 42-43. at British History Online

Confusion about the church being in the county of Suffolk lies in an incorrect gazetteer entry; The church is in the Norfolk and GENUKI includes transcripts for it's registers in the Norfolk page for Thetford.

The history of the churches of Thetford Norfolk are found in Frences Blomfield 'Thetford, chapter 15: Of the Parish churches in the town', An Essay towards a Topographical History of the County of Norfolk: volume 2 (1805), pp. 59-76. at British History Online

Resources
If you live in Suffolk you will have access to a variety of resources at local archives and libraries. For those who live further afield, one can access microfilm and online records at LDS Family History Centres. Refer to Suffolk_in_the_FHL_Catalog and in the Family History Library Catalogue for available records.

Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day. The civil registration article tells more about these records. There are several Internet sites with name lists or indexes. A popular site is FreeBMD.

Church records
parish registers of christenings, marriages and burials are available online for the following years:

Parish Registers began in the 1500's. They can be viewed at the Suffolk Record Office. There are Bishop Transcripts and Parish Registers that have been filmed for most parishes in the County. See the Suffolk Church Records article for further details.

GENUKI Thetford Norfolk page includes transcriptions for

parish register Baptisms 1640-1902 Norfolk Transcription Archive

Parish register Banns 1754-1902 with gaps Norfolk Transcription Archive

parish register Marriages 1653-1902 Norfolk Transcription Archive

parish register Burials 1653-1902 Norfolk Transcription Archive

Census records


Prior to the 1911 census the household schedule was destroyed and only the enumerator's schedule survives.

The 1911 census of England and Wales was taken on the night of Sunday 2 April 1911 and in addition to households and institutions such as prisons and workhouses, canal boats merchant ships and naval vessels it attempted to include homeless persons. The schedule was completed by an individual and for the first time both this record and the enumerator's schedule were preserved. Two forms of boycott of the census by women are possible due to frustration at government failure to grant women the universal right to vote in parliamentary and local elections. The schedule either records a protest by failure to complete the form in respect of the women in the household or women are absent due to organisation of groups of women staying away from home for the whole night. Research estimates that several thousand women are not found by census search. Find my Past 1911 census search

Poor Law Unions
Thetford Poor Law Union

See also England Norfolk Poor Law Union Records (FamilySearch Historical Records)

Norfolk Poor Law Unions

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Suffolk Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

Maps and Gazetteers
Maps are a visual look at the locations in England. Gazetteers contain brief summaries about a place.


 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain