Thornage is a village and a

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 English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

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 ...

. The village is 2.7 miles south-west of Holt, 23.2 miles 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 ...

and 11.3 miles east of

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 straddles the B1110 road between Holt and Guist. The nearest railway station is at

Sheringham Sheringham (; population 7,367) is a seaside town and civil parish in the county of Norfolk, England.Ordnance Survey (2002). ''OS Explorer Map 252 - Norfolk Coast East''. . The motto of the town, granted in 1953 to the Sheringham Urban District ...

for the

Bittern Line The Bittern Line is a railway branch line in Norfolk, England, that links to . It passes through the Broads on its route to an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty on the north Norfolk coast. It is named after the Eurasian bittern, bittern, a r ...

which runs between

, Cromer and Norwich. The nearest airport is at

Norwich International Airport Norwich Airport is an international airport in Norfolk, England, north of the city of Norwich. In 2023, Norwich Airport was the 25th Busiest airports in the United Kingdom by total passenger traffic, busiest airport in the UK and busiest in ...

History

The villages name means 'thorn-tree park'. Thornage has an entry 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 ...

of 1085. In the great book Thornage is recorded by the name ‘’Tornedis’’, the main land holder being Bishop William. The survey also lists 3 mills.

The Iron Foundry

In the 19th century there was a

brass Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, in proportions which can be varied to achieve different colours and mechanical, electrical, acoustic and chemical properties, but copper typically has the larger proportion, generally copper and zinc. I ...

and

iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...

foundry A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mold material after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals pr ...

in the village; the foundry was run initially by John Mann, and later by his nephew, Alfred Abram, and is depicted on the

village sign In many parts of England, an ornamental village sign is erected to announce the village name to those entering the village. They are typically placed on the principal road entrance or in a prominent location such as a village green. The desig ...

Thornage Hall

Thornage Hall is a former grange of the

Bishops of Norwich The Bishop of Norwich is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Norwich in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers most of the county of Norfolk and part of Suffolk. The bishop of Norwich is Graham Usher. The see is in th ...

. There has been a manor house on this site since the time of the Normans. The hall was built c. 1482 by Bishop Goldwall of Norwich. After the dissolution of the monasteries the hall was given to

Sir William Butts Sir William Butts (c. 1486 – 22 November 1545) was a member of King Henry VIII of England's court and was the King's physician. His portrait was painted by Hans Holbein the Younger in 1543, and he was knighted in the following year. His grand ...

by Henry VIII. In the 17th century both ends of the Hall were demolished and remodelled, but the hall windows and doorways in the centre block were retained. In 1988 a 17th-century sewer tunnel was rediscovered. Nearby there is a large brick

dovecote A dovecote or dovecot , doocot (Scots Language, Scots) or columbarium is a structure intended to house Domestic pigeon, pigeons or doves. Dovecotes may be free-standing structures in a variety of shapes, or built into the end of a house or b ...

, dating from 1728, and barns of flint and brick dating from 1718 and 1727.

Thornage Watermill

The

watermill A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as mill (grinding), milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in ...

is located to the north east of the village and stands on the

river Glaven The River Glaven in the eastern English county of Norfolk is long and flows through picturesque North Norfolk countryside to the North Sea. Rising from a tiny headwater in Bodham the river starts miles before Selbrigg Pond where three small ...

whose course was altered to enable construction of the mill on a site able to hold the mill dam without flooding the surrounding area. A watermill was first recorded on this site in the

; in the 13th century it was known as ''Feldmille''. The present watermill, built of Norfolk red brick with a pantile roof, stopped working in 1938 and the building is now a private residence. In its working order the watermill had a breastshot 13' x 6' wheel, made entirely out of wood, which powered 4 pairs of stones driven from above and controlled by two sets of flyball governors. Three pairs of French burr stones still remained in 2011, along with some of the mill machinery, which has been incorporated into the living area of the private residence conversion.

The Parish Church of All Saints

The

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 ...

of the present Parish Church of All Saints was constructed in the early part of the 14th century. The church was substantially renovated in 1898 and in 1904. Three Norman windows can be seen in the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

and the chancel. At some time the church had a south aisle, as the blocked up arcade shows. Inside the church is the tomb chest of Sir William Butts, who died in 1583. His father, also named

, was the chief physician in the household of

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...

. The church's communion plate is very ancient, as is the

chalice A chalice (from Latin 'cup', taken from the Ancient Greek () 'cup') is a drinking cup raised on a stem with a foot or base. Although it is a technical archaeological term, in modern parlance the word is now used almost exclusively for the ...

, on which are inscribed the words ''"was the gyfte of John Butts (or Butes), and Margaret, his wife - 1456".''

Notable people

was a Fellow of the

College of Physicians A college (Latin: ''collegium'') may be a tertiary educational institution (sometimes awarding degrees), part of a collegiate university, an institution offering vocational education, a further education institution, or a secondary school ...

and became physician to

, whose confidence he enjoyed to a remarkable degree. He was a keen supporter of the

Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...

. William was educated at

Gonville Hall Gonville and Caius College, commonly known as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348 by Edmund Gonville, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges a ...

, Cambridge, of which he became a Fellow. He proceeded to become a B.A. in 1506, M.A. in 1509, and M.D. in 1518. He was made a Fellow of the College of Physicians on 9 November 1529. He was the friend of

Thomas Cardinal Wolsey Thomas Wolsey ( ; – 29 November 1530) was an English statesman and Catholic cardinal. When Henry VIII became King of England in 1509, Wolsey became the king's almoner. Wolsey's affairs prospered and by 1514 he had become the controlling fi ...

Thomas Cranmer Thomas Cranmer (2 July 1489 – 21 March 1556) was a theologian, leader of the English Reformation and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and, for a short time, Mary I. He is honoured as a Oxford Martyrs, martyr ...

, and

Hugh Latimer Hugh Latimer ( – 16 October 1555) was a Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, and Bishop of Worcester during the Reformation, and later Church of England chaplain to King Edward VI. In 1555 under the Catholic Queen Mary I he was burned at the ...

. William was knighted by Henry VIII, under the title of Sir William Butts, of Norfolk. He was immortalised by

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

, in his play "Henry VIII", and his portrait is in Holbein's picture of the delivery of the Charter to the Barber Surgeons. Sir William's family had been in possession of the manor of Thornage for some considerable time when he was additionally given the Hall, once the grange of the Bishop of Norwich, by Henry VIII in 1536. * John Astley was Rector, 1758–1803

John Archibald Venn John Archibald Venn (10 November 1883 – 15 March 1958) was a British economist. He was President of Queens' College, Cambridge, from 1932 until his death, Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University 1941–1943, university archivist, and a ...

, ''

Alumni Cantabrigienses ''Alumni Cantabrigienses: A Biographical List of All Known Students, Graduates and Holders of Office at the University of Cambridge, from the Earliest Times to 1900'' is a biographical register of former members of the University of Cambridge whic ...

: Part II. 1752–1900'', Vol. I (1940)
p. 88
/ref>

References

http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Norfolk/Thornage {{authority control North Norfolk Villages in Norfolk Civil parishes in Norfolk