Thorpe St Andrew is a town 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 below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

in the

Broadland Broadland is a local government district in Norfolk, England, named after the Norfolk Broads. The population of the local authority district taken at the 2011 Census was 124,646. Its council is based in Thorpe St Andrew. In 2013, Broadland w ...

district of

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the Nor ...

, England. It is situated on the

River Yare The River Yare is a river in the English county of Norfolk. In its lower reaches it is one of the principal navigable waterways of The Broads and connects with the rest of the network. The river rises south of Dereham to the west to the v ...

, two miles east of the centre of

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the Episcopal see, See of ...

, and is outside the boundary of the city. The civil parish has an area of and had a population of 14,556 at the 2011 census; this was an increase from the 2001 figure of 13,762. It is the administrative headquarters of the

district council.

History

Thorpe is 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 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

, in which it is spelt ‘Torp’, which is a Scandinavian word meaning village (see Thorp). It is thought that the

Danes Danes ( da, danskere, ) are a North Germanic ethnic group and nationality native to Denmark and a modern nation identified with the country of Denmark. This connection may be ancestral, legal, historical, or cultural. Danes generally regard t ...

were in

East Anglia East Anglia is an area in the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a people whose name originated in Anglia, in ...

as early as 870 AD and in 1004 Sweyn and his ships came up the river to Norwich. There is also evidence that Thorpe was occupied by the

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

with the discovery of various remains. The earliest references found that relate to the parish are under the names of ‘Thorpe Episcopi’ and ‘Thorpe-next-Norwich’. In later years, it has been known as ‘Thorpe St Andrew’. The Norfolk County Asylum was established in the town in May 1814. East Anglia's worst

rail crash A train wreck, train collision, train accident or train crash is a type of disaster involving one or more trains. Train wrecks often occur as a result of miscommunication, as when a moving train meets another train on the same track; or an acc ...

happened at Thorpe St Andrew in 1874, killing 25 people and injuring 75. Parts of the original town can still be seen along the Yarmouth Road leading out of Norwich. Features here include St Andrew's parish church, the former parish infants school, the Rivergarden public house and the multi-gabled Buck public house.

Facilities

There are numerous leisure facilities, groups and organisations including the County Arts indoor and outdoor bowling club on Plumstead Road, Thorpe Kite Flyers and the Starlight Express Majorettes. Th
Yare Boat Club
is situated on Thorpe Island, opposite the Rivergarden, and offers rowing on the

. The local high school is Thorpe St Andrew High School; it was established in its present form in 1977. The high school is fed by several small primary schools from the local villages along with 3 large primary schools within Thorpe St Andrew. These schools are Dussindale, St Williams and Hillside. In recent years, Thorpe St Andrew has expanded eastwards in the shape of the Dussindale housing development, which includes Dussindale Primary School, which opened in 2007 and Broadland business park. Thorpe St Andrew is home to radio station 99.9 Radio Norwich. The studios are based near Thorpe River Green and the station started broadcasting on 29 June 2006. Thorpe lies on the River Yare which is part of the

Norfolk Broads Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North ...

network of navigable rivers. Thorpe Green is on the main Yarmouth Road and gives access to the river with the opposite bank being an island after the creation of the new cut which allowed vessels to make their way to and from the city of Norwich without traversing the town via two low bridges that carry the railway to Yarmouth,

Lowestoft Lowestoft ( ) is a coastal town and civil parish in the East Suffolk (district), East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer Map OL40: The Broads: (1:25 000) : . As the List of extreme points of the United Kingdom, most easterly UK se ...

Cromer Cromer ( ) is a coastal town and civil parish on the north coast of the English county of Norfolk. It is north of Norwich, north-northeast of London and east of Sheringham on the North Sea coastline. The local government authorities are Nor ...

and Sheringham. Once the location of thriving boat yards, Thorpe Island now offers mooring for mainly liveaboard vessels. The only operating boat yards in Thorpe are now towards the east of the town where there are two hire boat operators as well as private facilities and boat building operations. A commemorative World War One plaque stands at the River Green war memorial site. It was unveiled on 4 August 2014 by two local schoolchildren, Harry and Aimee Fuller who attended Hillside Avenue Primary School.

Roads

Thorpe St Andrew is bisected by two major roads running from East to West: the A1042 and A1242. The A1242 or Yarmouth Road is part of the old Norwich to

Great Yarmouth Great Yarmouth (), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside town and unparished area in, and the main administrative centre of, the Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of Norwich. A pop ...

road.

Notable people

* Sir George Henry Morse (1857–1931), mountaineer and Lord Mayor of Norwich. * Peter Trudgill, one of the pioneers of

sociolinguistics Sociolinguistics is the descriptive study of the effect of any or all aspects of society, including cultural norms, expectations, and context, on the way language is used, and society's effect on language. It can overlap with the sociology of ...

in Britain, was born and brought up in the area.

Notes

External links

Thorpe St Andrew Town CouncilThorpe Players, Roxley Hall, NorwichThorpe St Andrew Parish Church, Norwich
{{authority control Towns in Norfolk Civil parishes in Norfolk Broadland Areas of Norwich