Burnham Thorpe is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the English county of

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

. It is famous for being the birthplace of Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson, victor at the

Battle of Trafalgar The Battle of Trafalgar was a naval engagement that took place on 21 October 1805 between the Royal Navy and a combined fleet of the French Navy, French and Spanish Navy, Spanish navies during the War of the Third Coalition. As part of Na ...

and one of Britain's greatest

hero A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or Physical strength, strength. The original hero type of classical epics did such thin ...

es. At the time of his birth, Nelson's father, Edmund Nelson, was rector of the church in Burnham Thorpe. Burnham Thorpe is located north-east of

King's Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is north-east of Peterborough, north-north-east of Cambridg ...

and north-west of

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

History

Burnham Thorpe's name is of combined

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...

and

Viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

origin, and derives from the

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

for a settlement along the River Burn with the

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

for an outlying farmstead. In the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

, Burnham Thorpe is listed as a settlement of 58 households in the

hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numerals, Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 (number), 99 and preceding 101 (number), 101. In mathematics 100 is the square of 10 (number), 10 (in scientific notation it is written as 102). The standar ...

of Gallow. In 1086, the village was divided between the estates of William de Warenne and Robert de Verly. In 1758, Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson KB, 1st Viscount Nelson was born in the Rectory in Burnham Thorpe. Nelson served a distinguished career in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

, leading his men to victories at the

Battle of the Nile The Battle of the Nile (also known as the Battle of Aboukir Bay; ) was fought between the Royal Navy and the French Navy at Abu Qir Bay, Aboukir Bay in Ottoman Egypt, Egypt between 1–3 August 1798. It was the climax of the Mediterranean ca ...

and the

among others. Nelson is proudly remembered in the village, with multiple monuments erected in his honour. The Rectory where Nelson was born has since been demolished, with its site being marked by a roadside plaque. The village's main public house was built in 1637 and was known as ''The Plough'' until 1798 when it was renamed ''The Lord Nelson'' in honour of the victory at the

. Nelson held a dinner here for the men of the village prior to his departure to join . The pub survives to this day and is operated by Woodforde's Brewery. Other listed buildings in Burnham Thorpe include Manor House (Seventeenth Century with Medieval stone), Ivy Farm Barn (Sixteenth Century), School House (Seventeenth Century) and East End Farm House (Seventeenth Century).

Burnhamthorpe Road Burnhamthorpe Road is a major arterial road in the cities of Toronto and Mississauga, Ontario; beginning at Dundas Street (from which it initially angles away from before running parallel with), near Islington Avenue, running west and becoming a ...

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

and

Mississauga Mississauga is a Canadian city in the province of Ontario. Situated on the north-western shore of Lake Ontario in the Regional Municipality of Peel, it borders Toronto (Etobicoke) to the east, Brampton to the north, Milton to the northwest, ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Canada was named after Burnham Thorpe, the homeplace of settler, John Abelson.

Geography

According to the 2021 census, the population of Burnham Thorpe is 131 people which shows a slight decrease from the 144 people listed in the 2011 census. The B1355, between

Fakenham Fakenham is a market town and civil parish in Norfolk, England. It is situated on the River Wensum, about north-west of Norwich. The town is at the junction of several local roads, including the A148 from King's Lynn to Cromer, the A1067 to N ...

and Burnham Norton, runs through the parish as does the course of the River Burn.

All Saints' Church

Burnham Thorpe's parish church is located along Church Lane where a church has stood since the

of 1087. The present building has an arcade dating from the 13th-century,

aisle An aisle is a linear space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, in buildings such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, parliaments, courtrooms, ...

s from the 14th-century and the clerestorey, north porch and

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

date from the 15th-century. A

bell tower A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell to ...

of three stages at the west end also dates from the 15th-century, due to these features the church is a Grade I listed building. Additionally, the church boasts several memorials to both

Horatio Nelson Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronte ( – 21 October 1805) was a Royal Navy officer whose leadership, grasp of strategy and unconventional tactics brought about a number of decisive British naval victories during the French ...

and to his father, Edmund Nelson and a large stone

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a ''typeface'', defined as the set of fonts that share an overall design. For instance, the typeface Bauer Bodoni (shown in the figure) includes fonts " Roman" (or "regul ...

, in which the former was baptised.

Famous residents

* Sir William Calthorpe KB (1410–1494), knight and High Sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk, born in Burnham Thorpe * Reverend Edmund Nelson (1722–1802), clergyman, Rector of Burnham Thorpe from 1755 * Catherine Suckling (1725–1767), mother of Horatio Nelson, lived in Burnham Thorpe * William Nelson, Earl Nelson (1757–1835), clergyman, born in Burnham Thorpe * Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson KB, Viscount Nelson (1758–1805), naval commander, born in Burnham Thorpe * Frances Nelson, Viscountess Nelson (1758–1831), wife of Horatio Nelson, lived in Burnham Thorpe * Solly Zuckerman, Baron Zuckerman KCB (1904–1993), zoologist and researcher, took the title Baron of Burnham Thorpe * Miranda Raison, Anglo-French actress, born in Burnham Thorpe

Governance

Burnham Thorpe is part of the

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected t ...

of Burnham Market & Docking for local elections and is part of the

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

King's Lynn and West Norfolk King's Lynn and West Norfolk is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Norfolk, England. Its council is based in the town of King's Lynn. The district also includes the t ...

. The village's national constituency is North West Norfolk which has been represented by the Conservative's James Wild MP since 2010.

War Memorial

Burnham Thorpe's war memorial is a stone latin cross located inside All Saint's Churchyard, it has been Grade II listed since 2017. The following men are listed for the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

: And, the following for the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

References

External links

{{Authority control Villages in Norfolk King's Lynn and West Norfolk Civil parishes in Norfolk