Thetford St Mary the Less, Norfolk Genealogy

Guide to Thetford, Suffolk and Norfolk ancestry, 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 Family History Centres. Refer to Suffolk_in_the_FHL_Catalog and in the FamilySearch 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
Thetford St Mary the Less parish registers of christenings, marriages and burials are available online for the following years:

To find the names of the neighboring parishes, use England Jurisdictions 1851 Map. In this site, search for the name of the parish, click on the location "pin", click Options and click List contiguous parishes.

Records are also available at the Suffolk Record Office.

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