Thetford

“ In 1499, John Fishere, burgess of Thetford, who was mayor in 1487, was buried in this churchyard, by his wife, and gave a new cope to the church. In 1506, Edmund Schilde of Thetforde was buried here, by Sir Robert Sweyn, then parish priest. In 1511, the church was new paved, and Robert Love, burgess of Thetford, gave 40s. towards it; at the Dissolution it went with the priory to the Duke of Norfolk, was afterwards forfeited to the Crown, and was granted to Sir Richard Fulmerston, by Edward VI. in 1546, by virtue of which, he became seized of all the tithes, revenues, &c. ”

“ Thetford lost its Assizes in 1833, its Parliamentary representation in 1868, and all its old fairs have decayed; so that the only excitement in the lives of the worthy burgesses is when an itinerant circus pitches its tents in the neighbourhood. The road-life between Thetford and Norwich had its own picturesqueness before 1833, for prisoners were conveyed in waggons to be tried here or at Norwich, and Attleborough March Fair, from being generally held while the Assizes were in progress, was 227popularly known as “Rogues’ Fair.” ”

“ In 1331, there was a dispute between the Prior of Bromehill, and the mayor, burgesses, tenants, merchants, and inhabitants of Thetford, who had the toll of the fair, by grant from the lord of the dominion, concerning the jurisdiction of the mayor there, and the toll, picage, and stallage of the fair, who recovered against the Prior, by shewing that they held it of the dominion of Thetford, as belonging to the dutchy of Lancaster, by grant of a former lord thereof, and that Henry Earl of Lancaster was in possession of it in 1327. ”

“ There have been Thetfordians in the past to do wonderful things and make some little stir in their day. Let us begin with the smallest of them. In 1782, “Robert Bartley, of Thetford,” then in his sixty-third year, is recorded to have walked the eighty-one miles to London in twenty-four hours, and to have walked back the following day. He died, aged sixty-six, in 1785.
236There were some excellent walkers at that time, for in 1813 the Thetford Volunteers performed a remarkable feat of endurance. They marched the fifty miles to Yarmouth in one day. ”

“ When beheld from the summit of this hill, the adjacent country presents a cheerless prospect; and the only recompense obtained by climbing such a steep, is the bird's-eye view it affords of the town, which being close to its base, has a singular and pleasing appearance, displaying a charming variety of domestic scenery. Thetford, in its prosperous state, could boast of no fewer than eight Monasteries, many remains of which are yet visible, particularly of one founded by Roger Bigod. ”

“ Who knows what the future may bring forth—who knows that we do not behold a future Lady Thetford?"
"She is very pretty," said the rector thoughtfully, "and she may change with years. Your prophecy may be fulfilled."
The present Lady Thetford entered as he spoke. She had heard the remarks of both, and there was an unusual pallor and gravity in her face as she advanced to receive them.
Little Sir Rupert was called in, and May followed, with a butterfly crushed to death in each fat little hand.
"She kills them as fast as she catches them," said Sir Rupert, ruefully. "It's cruel, isn't it, mamma?" ”

“ Offa takes possession of the inheritance of the murdered king, laying the country of the East-Angles to his own dominions; but this vineyard, as it was bloodily obtained, lasted not long in him or his posterity, the Danes breaking in like wild boars, laying it waste not long after. And now Thetford began to decline in its grandeur ”

“ The village of Barton Mills, lying directly on the road, is a kind of preface to, or outpost of, Mildenhall, a town placed on an out-of-the-way loop road, and never seen by those who make straight for Thetford. But we, at any rate, will see it, coming to this backwater of life along a flat road that doubles on itself and winds artfully amid a maze of lazy rills and brimming ditches, covered with an unbroken surface of duckweed. ”

“ Destined to be the head of a family that unites with princely possessions and a historical name a keen though honourable ambition for political power, Lord Thetford has been care fully educated, especially in the new ideas of his time. His father, though a man of no ordinary talents, has never taken a prominent part in public life. ”

“ In 1359, the advowson was settled by fine, to pass with the dominion of Thetford. In 1370, they had purchased all the houses between their convent and the street, and had license from the King to enlarge their house, and pull down those they had purchased, and now their monastery became spacious and open, there being nothing but a court between the street and cloister, for the old hospital-house of Domus Dei, which stood at the very corner, by the river, did not hinder their view, and could the monks have done this, it is to be presumed they would never have removed hence. ”

“ Herfast, or Arfast, the Conqueror's chaplain, who was made Bishop in the year 1070, removed the see from Elmham to Thetford in 1075, according to the order of the council held by Lanfrank Archbishop of Canterbury, which appointed, that all bishops sees, which were settled in villages, should be removed to the most eminent cities in their dioceses, and so this became fixed here, Thetford being far superiour to Elmham in populousness and wealth. ”

“ Pits, in his history of English writers, gives him a great character: he sat in this see till April 9, 1094, and then translated it from Thetford to Norwich, to the great detriment of this city, which hath been decaying by degrees ever since. But that he might make some amends to it, he persuaded Roger Bygod to build a monastery for Cluniac monks, and place them in the church of St. Mary, lately the episcopal see of Thetford, which he did, though he designed to remove them (as his son Hugh Bygod afterwards did) to a more convenient place without the city. ”

“ In 1274, the Earl's bailiffs took toll in Thetford market, of one of the tenants of Gerard de L'isle, lord of the moiety of Munford manor, for which Gerard brought his action against the Earl, and recovered upon it, by proving that almost all the towns in Grimshoe hundred, and especially every one of the Earl Warren's fee, were not to pay any toll in Thetford market. In 1275, the tenants of the Prior of Canterbury had 6l. 10s. per annum out of the toll of Thetford, Sandon, Brandon, Barnham, &c. ”

“ Benedict, and All-Saints, and got the Bishop to appropriate them to the monastery, with all other lands, immunities, and privileges, that the Abbots of Bury ever had in the burgh of Thetford, by means whereof this monastery, with all its lands and revenues, were totally exempt from all jurisdiction of the burgh, and enjoyed the liberties and privileges of St. Edmund their patron, even to its dissolution. ”

“ William Galsagus, whose right sirname was de Bello-Fago, or Beaufo, who was nominated by the King to the see of Thetford, on Christmas day, 1085, and was consecrated at Canterbury in 1086; he did all he could to adorn and enrich his see, both in buildings and possessions, being a very wealthy man, and a person of much worth for his learning and conduct ”

“ The Abbot of Bury's revenues were not altered, the Abbot of Ely had his house and 3 churches and 2 mansions void, which paid rent to the King, one of the houses being standing; the Bishop of Thetford had 20 free-houses, one mill, and half the advowson of a church, and Roger Bigot had, besides his other revenues here, a free-house for his own residence, one monastery and 2 bordars belonging to it. ”

“ Sir Roger Bygod Earl of Norfolk, Sir Ralf Bigod, Sir William de Hengham, Sir Osbert de Caily, and others, being witnesses to it; she died in 1247, so that the deed must be made before that time. In 1286, Sir Peter de Melding, Knt. gave to God and the nuns of St. George in Thetford, a yearly rent of 5s. out of his tenements in Norwich, for the health of his soul, and the soul of Joan his wife. In 1359 there was a change made between the Prioress and Prior of the monks of Thetford, whereby divers lands in Rougham were settled on the nunnery, and other lands and a mill on the prior. ”

“ Elveden Gap, passed on the way, is the name of a clump of firs, marking where the boundaries of estates and parishes run. Beyond it stretches the lonely heath. Pollard, in his terrifying print of the “Norwich Mail in a Thunderstorm,” makes this the scene of a very dramatic picture, with the lightning horribly forky and the rain very slanty and penetrating. Thetford Heath was an ill place on such an occasion; but the elements were not the chiefest of its dangers, which in any year from mediæval times until modern were rather to be expected at the hands of man. ”

“ The Prior of Thetford had lands here given him with the manor of Santon, by Thomas Bodney; and on 7th August 27th Elizabeth, the Queen, on the humble petition of Henry Lord Wentworth, grants to Theophilus Adams, and Thomas Butler of London, Gent. all the lands here belonging to the late priory of Thetford, which were 100 acres of land, meadow, and pasture ”

“ Another is of a woman in Thetford, who became dumb by a disease in her throat, upon which account, many gave her money to enable her to go and make her offering to the image of the Holy Virgin at Wulpit in Suffolk, and pray for her recovery, but the woman made signs that she would go to the image in the new chapel of the monks, which being consented to, she was restored, the woman affirming the Blessed Virgin appeared to her, and pulled her tongue up from her throat, which cured her, wherefore she vowed to keep a candle burning before the image during her life. ”

“ Both Rupert and May are spoiled—May particularly is perfectly unmanageable. A young girl as governess for her would never do."
Mr. Knight departed with these instructions and the following week started for the great metropolis. An advertisement was at once inserted in the Times newspaper, stating all Lady Thetford's requirements, and desiring immediate application. Another week later, and Lady Thetford received the following communication:
"Dear Lady Thetford—I have been fairly besieged with applications for the past week—all widows, and all professing to be thoroughly competent. ”

“ If, on the other hand, you elect to follow the route of the old Thetford and Norwich Mail, which turned off just outside Newmarket from the direct road through Barton Mills, and went instead by Bury St. Edmunds, it is exactly seven miles longer to Thetford and all places beyond.
There are few roads so wild and desolate, and no other main road so lonely, in the southern half of this country. ”

“ It plainly appears, by comparing historians with this record, that Thetford had always flourished and increased, from the time that the Danes had quiet possession of it, to the Confessor's days. But from his time it decreased much, for the 943 burgesses that were then in the burgh were now declined to 720, there being no less than 224 mansion-houses empty or down. The earldom was now in the King's hands, who, after Stigand the Archbishop's disgrace, seized the church of St. Mary, with the churches of St. Peter, St. ”

“ I must be a fascinating little thing, to be sure, and I feel for him, beyond everything; at the same time Beauty," said the young lady, addressing the ugliest of the poodles with a confidential little nod, "they might all spare themselves the trouble of being tormented on the subject; because, you see, my dear little doggy, I wouldn't marry Sir Rupert Thetford if he were heir to the throne of England, much less Thetford Towers. He's a very nice young man, and a very amiable young man, and a very good-looking young man, I have no doubt ”

“ Two miles out of Thetford one came in those old days to the toll-house. The old relic stood until 1902, and was something of a curiosity to the instructed in local lore, for it stood on the 245boundary of the parishes of Croxton and Kilverstone, on those of the Hundreds of Grimshoe and Shropham and the South-West and Mid Parliamentary Divisions of Norfolk. In virtue of that last distinction the occupier had a vote in both divisions, and was a man greatly cherished and cultivated by parties when election-time drew nigh. ”

“ I am not so far advanced towards the noon of life as to forget the sunshine that brightened its morning. My dear Mivers, your questions are easily answered. I arrived in England two weeks ago, stayed at Exmundham till this morning, to-day dined with Lord Thetford, whose acquaintance I made abroad, and was persuaded by him to come here and be introduced to his father and mother, the Beaumanoirs. ”

“ Sitomagus, Deodford, Deodford, Tedford, Tetford, Tefford, Theford, and Thetford, as it is now called, was a place formerly of great renown, and now to be taken notice of for its great antiquity; who were the first wise people that made choice of its commodious situation, whether a colony of the Senones, an ancient people of Gaul, or the Sitones, an ancient people of Germany, I cannot certainly learn; but am apt to conclude that it was a place of note before the coming of the Romans into this isle, and doubt not but the name Sitomagus was given it long before they ever set foot in the place ”

“ With him was martyred Humbert Bishop of Elmham, and almost all the nobility of his kingdom, for which the Danes much rejoiced, the inhabitants being totally subdued, and obliged to submit to them for want of leaders; after this they wintered at Thetford, ravaging all the adjacent country, Gutrum, Gytro, or Guthram, coming hither and wintering with them; and it seems as if he staid here, notwithstanding it is said that this spring all the Danes withdrew out of East-England. ”