THETFORD, Norfolk, a market-town, municipal and parliameniary borough, and the seat of a Poor-Law Union, in the parish of Thetford, is situated chiefly ou the left bank of the Little Ouse, in 52° 24' N. lat., 0° 44' E. long., distant 30 miles S.W. from Norwich, 80 miles N.N.E. from London by road, and 95 miles by the Eastern Counties and Norfolk railways. The population of the borough in 1851 was 4075. The borough is governed by 4 aldermen and 12 councillors, of whom one is mayor; and returns two members to the Imperial Parliament. The living is a perpetual curacy in the archdeaconry and diocese of Norwich. Thetford Poor-Law Union contains 34 parishes and town ships, with an area of 117,870 acres, and a population in 1851 of 19,040.
The town of Thetford is very ancient. Under the East Angles it was a place of importance ; a synod was held here in G69. When the Danes invaded England in the reign of Ethelred I., they fixed their head-quarters, in 870, at Thetford, which they sacked. In the reign of Ethelred IL the town was burnt by the Danes, in 1004, under Sweyne. They burned the town again in 1010. The bishopric of tho East Angles was transferred in 1075 from North Elmbam to Thet ford, and was again removed in 1091 to Norwich. About the same time a Cluniac priory was founded here. There were several other
religious houses at Thetford. The town was the seat of one of the suffrsgan bishoprics established by Henry VIII. There have been as many as twenty churches in the town ; thirteen are mentioned in the Domesday Book. Thetford now comprehends three parishes; the parishes of St. Cuthbert and St. Mary are very much intermingled, and are partly in Suffolk and partly in Norfolk; the whole of the other parish (St. Peter) is in Norfolk.
The town has no manufactures, but a good deal of malting is carried on, and the trade of the place is favoured by the river being navigable up to the town. St. Peter's church consists of a 'MVO with two aisles, chancel, and tower ; the last rebuilt in li89. The ancient part is built chiefly of flint, whence it has obtained the name of 'the black church.' St. Mary's is on the Suffolk aide of the river, and is meanly built. There aro places of worship for Wesleyan Methodists, Independents, Quakers, and Roman Catholics, a Free Grammar school, founded in 1610, and National and Infant schools. Considerable remains of the Cluniac priory, and of other religious structures, still exist.