Village History
Agricultural Labourer's Cottage in Hall Road Thurton Demolished in the Sixties
Do you remember this cottage? It was situated on Hall Road in Thurton and was demolished in the
1960s. Do you know anything of the families that may have lived in this cottage?
If you have any information regarding the cottage or recollections of agricultural
life in Thurton please email us and let us know.
Thurton is written 'Tortuna' in the Domesday Book. The suffix is the Anglo-Saxon 'tun', meaning an enclosed space. The prefix may refer to a thorn bush, or perhaps to the Anglo-Saxon god Thunor, whom the Normans called Thur. So Thurton may mean 'the place of the thorn bush' or 'Thor's enclosure'.
The Domesday Book records Roger Bigot as being granted the rights of the land. In the reign of Richard I, Robert de Grys was lord. In 1347 the Abbot of Langley retained interests in Thurton and at the Dissolution, manorial right was passed to Thomas Godsalve. This was subsequently passed down to the Beauchamp family of Langley.
In 1707 a tumuli barrow, north of The Street, was opened and several Roman
coins of Gallienus (emperor from 253 to 268),
Victorinus (268 - 270 or 271),
Tetricus (271 - 273) and
Quintillus (270) were discovered. It is
thought the village was on the Roman route from Burgh Castle
(Gariannonum) to
Caistor St Edmund
(Venta Icenorum). William White's
History, Gazetteer, and Directory of Norfolk (1883)
records the tradition that a battle took place nearby at White Heath, speculating that it
might have been between the Roman and Iceni. 
If there is a connection with Burgh Castle then the battle
might equally have been between Romans and Anglo-Saxons.
Other finds in Thurton include a prehistoric polished flint axe, a Neolithic stone axehead and a prehistoric copper alloy axe. These are held in the Castle Museum in Norwich. In 1848 a proof groat of Edward I, mounted as a brooch, was found. A 17th Century stoneware jar was discovered in 1966. This is also retained at the Castle Museum.
When the commons were enclosed in 1801 the income from Fuel Allotment of
approximately 6 acres of land was awarded for the relief of the poor in
Thurton.
Thomas Spooner also left 20 shillings a year for the poor in 1630.
These two charities are still active and benefit the community and are
administered by a panel of trustees. In 1801 the population of Thurton was
shown as 164, by 1901 the population had grown to 209 inhabitants and by the
2001 census this had grown to 568.
Norfolk Records Office has around 200 historic documents relating to Thurton.