Thetford St Mary the Less, Norfolk Genealogy

England   Suffolk     Parishes   Thetford St Mary the Less

Parish History
Thetford is a market town and civil parish in the Breckland district of Norfolk Thetford Wikipedia

It is the site of the ruined Thetford Priory Thetford Priory Wikipedia and Thetford Priory English Heritage website

The redundant Parish Church of St Mary the Less Bury Road Thetford Norfolk has been designated as a grade II* listed building British listed building The building is 11th century in origin but is largely 14th century with 15th century tower. The Diocese of Norwich has placed the redundant church for sale and planning consent for redevelopment to a four bedroom residential property lapsed without sale to a private owner.

The church is situated in Old Bury Road just south of the Little Ouse River and is near Bridge Street in the southern part of the town. The parish is extensive and extends beyond the Norfolk county boundary to include rural parts of Suffolk and Thetford Forest see Thetford Forest Wikipedia

The parish of St Mary the Less is partly in Norfolk and partly in Suffolk and neighbours Thetford St Cuthbert, Norfolk Thetford St Peter, Norfolk Elveden, Suffolk and Santon Downham, Suffolk

Francis Blomefield in the many chapters devoted to Thetford history refers to St Mary the Great 'Thetford, chapter 9: Of the state of the city in the Confessor's Time', An Essay towards a Topographical History of the County of Norfolk: volume 2 (1805), pp. 42-43. at British History Online

Confusion about the church being in the county of Suffolk lies in an incorrect gazetteer entry; The church is in the Norfolk and GENUKI includes transcripts for it's registers in the Norfolk page for Thetford.

Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day. The civil registration article tells more about these records. There are several Internet sites with name lists or indexes. A popular site is FreeBMD.

Church records
Contributor: Include here information for parish registers, Bishop’s Transcripts, non conformist and other types of church records, such as parish chest records. Add the contact information for the office holding the original records. Add links to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection

Census records
Refer to the Suffolk Census wiki article for general details about the census.

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Suffolk Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

Maps and Gazetteers
Maps are a visual look at the locations in England. Gazetteers contain brief summaries about a place.


 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain

Web sites
Contributor: Add any relevant sites that aren’t mentioned above.