Thetford

THETFORD, an ancient Borough and Market Town, was once a large and important City, being the capital of the kingdom of East Anglia, in the Saxon era; and the See of the Bishopric of Norfolk, from the year 1070 to 1094.

It also shared with Norwich as the capital of Norfolk, till 1833, when the Lent Assizes, which had previously been held here, were removed to Norwich. It is a widely spread town, mostly on the north and partly on the south side of the Little Ouse river, which divides the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk, and receives here the small river Thet, from which the town has its name. It is encompassed on the south and west by extensive sandy heaths, abounding in rabbits, and is distant 12 miles N of Bury St Edmund, 6 miles ESE of Brandon; 28 miles SSE of Lynn; 28 miles SW by W of Norwich; 19 miles NE of Newmarket; and 80 miles NNE of London.

The BOROUGH OF THETFORD encreased its population from 2246 souls in 1801, to 3934 in 1841, and comprises 835 houses, and 6976 acres of land, divided into three PARISHES, of which the following are the names, areas, and population, viz.:- St Peter’s, 2281 acres, and 1184 souls; St Cuthbert’s, 215 acres, and 1543 souls; and St Mary’s, 4480 acres, and 1207 souls. St Peter’s is wholly in Norfolk, but all the land in St Cuthbert’s and St Mary’s, except about 100A, is in Suffolk, as also are 58 inhabitants of the former, and 677 of the latter. St Cuthbert’s has also about 1300A of warren, which is returned with Lackford Hundred, Suffolk, making the total area of the three parishes 8270 acres
William White History, Gazetteer, and Directory of Norfolk 1845