Record Details

NHER Number:6764
Type of record:Monument
Name:Site of Thorpe Hall

Summary

Evidence from historic maps suggests that this is the approximate site of Thorpe Hall, a medieval to post-medieval great house. Cottages and walls which survive at the site and have been inspected on the ground may be associated with the outbuildings and garden of this house. Linear and rectilinear ditches, banks and platforms, visible as earthworks and cropmarks on aerial photographs, are likely to date to the same period and to have had a similar function. Cropmarks of trackways and field boundaries in the area to the north of the site (NHER 38515) also appear to date to this phase of activity.

Images - none

Location

Grid Reference:TG 2435 3543
Map Sheet:TG23NW
Parish:THORPE MARKET, NORTH NORFOLK, NORFOLK

Full description

Approximate site of Thorpe Hall, judged from Faden's map of 1797 (S1).
Cottages here have facade of 17th or early 18th century brickwork with diaper patterning and traces of blocked windows, into which 18th century doors and windows have been inserted. Rest of building reconstructed. Portion of garden wall running south is also 17th century and has been much larger. Perhaps all once part of Hall outbuildings.
Occupants say they believed the hall stood further east, but this would seem to be too near church.
Land around cottages totally overgrown.
Visited E. Rose (NAU), 9 October 1978.

1988.
Cottages on site listed Grade II as The Limes (S2).
Notes in addition in left hand gable, blocked lights on two levels and small blocked stair light.
E. Rose (NAU), 9 August 1989.

Plans in file (S3).

Wall forming north side of churchyard extension cleared of ivy in 2002. Now forms revetment to land to north; about 1.5m high on south. Base of flint, upper part of eroded brickwork. West end is polygonal pier now buried in alter north-south wall. Clearly a 17th century garden or forecourt wall.
E. Rose (NLA), 16 January 2002.

March 2004, Norfolk NMP
Some of the cropmarks described below were previously recorded as NHER 36485. NMP mapping has led to the alteration of the central grid reference of the site from TG 2441 3548 to TG 2438 3545.

A series of ditches and banks, principally linear and rectilinear in plan, and a platform are visible as earthworks and cropmarks on aerial photographs (S4-5), centred at TG 2438 3545. Their morphology and location within an area identified as the site of Thorpe Hall, described above, suggests that they are contemporary with the Hall, and are likely to be medieval to post-medieval garden or other landscaping features associated with the Hall and its outbuildings.

Two pairs of near parallel banks and ditches, or perhaps terraces, visible from TG 2437 3547 to TG 2440 3537 as earthworks on 1946 aerial photographs (S5), appear to form the western boundary of an enclosure. The easternmost of these two ditches, together with two parallel ditches visible as cropmarks on 1996 oblique aerial photographs (S4), form the north side of this postulated enclosure. Within this a number of ditches and a rectangular platform measuring at least 15m long and 13m wide are apparent. A number of ditches identified to the south-west (centred at TG 2430 3539) appear to form part of the same pattern of enclosure.
See (S4-5).
S. Tremlett (NMP), 22 March 2004

Monument Types

  • BANK (EARTHWORK) (Unknown date)
  • BUILDING PLATFORM (Unknown date)
  • DITCH (Unknown date)
  • GARDEN (Unknown date)
  • GARDEN FEATURE (Unknown date)
  • GARDEN TERRACE (Unknown date)
  • PLATFORM (Unknown date)
  • RECTILINEAR ENCLOSURE (Unknown date)
  • BANK (EARTHWORK) (Medieval to 19th Century - 1066 AD to 1900 AD)
  • BUILDING PLATFORM (Medieval to 19th Century - 1066 AD to 1900 AD)
  • DITCH (Medieval to 19th Century - 1066 AD to 1900 AD)
  • GARDEN (Medieval to 19th Century - 1066 AD to 1900 AD)
  • GARDEN FEATURE (Medieval to 19th Century - 1066 AD to 1900 AD)
  • GARDEN TERRACE (Medieval to 19th Century - 1066 AD to 1900 AD)
  • GREAT HOUSE (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
  • PLATFORM (Medieval to 19th Century - 1066 AD to 1900 AD)
  • RECTILINEAR ENCLOSURE (Medieval to 19th Century - 1066 AD to 1900 AD)
  • GARDEN WALL (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
  • GREAT HOUSE (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
  • HOUSE (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)

Associated Finds - none

Protected Status

  • SHINE

Sources and further reading

---Record Card: NAU Staff. 1974-1988. Norfolk Archaeological Index Primary Record Card.
---Secondary File: Secondary File.
---Record Card: Clarke, R. R. and NCM Staff. 1933-1973. Norwich Castle Museum Record Card - Miscellaneous. Thorpe Market.
<S1>Publication: Faden, W. and Barringer, J. C. 1989. Faden's Map of Norfolk in 1797.
<S2>Designation: Historic England. National Heritage List for England. List Entry 1171278.
<S3>Illustration: Various. Various. Architectural plans.
<S4>Oblique Aerial Photograph: Edwards, D.A. (NLA). 1996. NHER TG 2435A-B (NLA 365/JFK12-3) 28-JUN-1996.
<S5>Vertical Aerial Photograph: RAF. 1946. RAF 106G/UK/1606 6142-3 27-JUN-1946 (NMR).

Related records - none

Find out more...

Norfolk County Council logo Heritage Lottery Fund logo

Powered by HBSMR-web and the HBSMR Gateway from exeGesIS SDM Ltd, and mojoPortal CMS
© 2007 - 2024 Norfolk Historic Environment Service