Thursford, Norfolk Genealogy

England   Norfolk   Norfolk Parishes

Parish History
THURSFORD (St. Andrew), a parish, in the union of Walsingham, hundred of North Greenhoe, W. division of Norfolk, 3½ miles (S. E. by E.) from Walsingham.

Thursford St Andrew is an Ancient parish in the Walsingham deanery of the Diocese of Norwich.

Thursford parish church has some fine examples of Victorian stained glass windows. The church was rebuilt in the early 1860s with money given by the Chadd family who lived in the nearby Thursford Hall.

The village of Thursford is mentioned in the Domesday Book, the survey of England made in 1086 at the request of William the Conqueror. In Domesday the village is called ‘Turesfort’ and ‘Tureforde’ and this name was believed to originate from the ford which crossed the Thur.

At the time of Domesday, Thursford belonged to the King with ‘Godric’ being steward of it. When Queen Elizabeth I was on the throne, the estate was possessed by the Haydons of Baconsthorpe and then by Sir Thomas Guybon and it was during this time that Thursford Old Hall was built.

By the mid 19th century Thursford was an active village with c.350 inhabitants and covered about 1,400 acres. There was still a corn mill, plus three public houses, a shoemaker, a saddler, a blacksmith, a carpenter, bricklayers and a village shop.

The church of St. Andrew is mainly medieval, with the doorway being c.1200 in date and the tower being early 14th century. As with many rural churches, it was rebuilt in the 19th century although a small 15th century window has survived in the vestry. The stained glass in the east window of the church was designed by Rev. Arthur Moore in 1862 and has been described as being one of the most beautiful windows of its time in England, if not in Europe, and better than the later William Morris-style designs of the 1920s.

Thursford Wood is managed by the Norfolk Wildlife Trust and contains a small piece of consecrated ground. Mr M. Anderson was buried there in c.1900 and some years later the ashes of his wife were also placed there. Mr Anderson gave the land to the NWT. The plot is edged in metal railings and encloses an evergreen tree, a large wooden cross and a small stone slab inscribed 'This is consecrated ground'.

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.


 * Walsingham 1837-1938
 * Fakenham 1939-1974

The Register Office, Fakenham Connect, Oak Street, Fakenham, NR21 9SR. Tel: 01328 850111. E-mail: registration.fakenham@norfolk.gov.uk

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

Norfolk Record Office reference PD 624

Census records
transcript of 1891 census

Poor Law Unions
http://www.workhouses.org.uk/index.html?Walsingham/Walsingham.shtml

Walsingham Union was incorporated under the terms of the 1834 Act, and the union workhouse was built at Great Snoring, but not completed until 1838. The Walsingham Union Workhouse at Great Snoring was opened in 1838. It was situated close to the boundary between the parishes of Great Snoring and Thursford and was sometimes known as Thursford Workhouse. Poor Law Unions were abolished in 1930 and the responsibilities of Walsingham Union Board of Guardians were taken over by Norfolk County Council Guardians' Committee No. 7. From 1930 the former Workhouse became known as Walsingham Public Assistance Institution. On 26 and 27 June 1934 the remaining thirty inmates (including two infants but no children) were transferred to West Beckham and Gressenhall Institutions and Walsingham Institution officially closed on 30 June 1934. The building was subsequently adapted for use as a smallpox hospital. By 1976 the building was derelict and was demolished in the early 1990s. Acquisition Received by the Norfolk Record Office on 26 February 1982 (C/GP 19/192-198) and on unknown dates.

Copies C/GP19/1-6, 131, 133-135, 137, 141, 143-146, 148, 150-151, 173-181 are on microfilm. RelatedMaterial For records of Guardians Committee No. 7 (including the administration of Red House Children's Home in Little Snoring and the boarding-out of children), see C/GC 7. See Public Assistance Sub-Committee minutes, 11 July 1934 and 12 September 1934, C/C 10/455. The records of the County Architect's Department include plans of the alterations for use as a smallpox hospital dated February 1937, see C/AR 1/29-31. The one inch to one mile Ordnance Survey Map of 1954 designates the building 'smallpox hospital'.

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 Norfolk 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

Web sites
http://www.achurchnearyou.com/thursford-st-andrew/ for information about the isolated church

http://www.thursford.org.uk/church%20and%20chapel.html for information about Thursford church and Methodist Chapel.

http://www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/thursford/thursford.htm Norfolk Churches website