Morningthorpe

Morningthorpe (sometimes Morning Thorpe) is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Morningthorpe and Fritton in the South Norfolk district, in the county of Norfolk, England. It is situated some 20 kilometres (12 mi) south of the city of Norwich. The parish includes the villages of Morningthorpe and Fritton. The two villages are 1 km apart.

Morningthorpe
St John the Baptist, Morningthorpe
Morningthorpe is located in Norfolk
Morningthorpe
Morningthorpe
Location within Norfolk
Area7.74 km2 (2.99 sq mi)
Population267 (2011)
• Density34/km2 (88/sq mi)
OS grid referenceTM 237 946
Civil parish
  • Morningthorpe and Fritton
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townNORWICH
Postcode districtNR15
PoliceNorfolk
FireNorfolk
AmbulanceEast of England
Morningthorpe St John the Baptist
Fritton St Catherine

The village's name origin is uncertain perhaps, 'outlying farm/settlement of the pool dwellers', 'outlying farm/settlement of the boundary dwellers' or 'outlying farm/settlement of Maera's people'.

The civil parish has an area of 7.74 square kilometres (2.99 sq mi) and in the 2001 census had a population of 253 in 94 households the population increasing to 267 at the 2011 Census.[1]

The churches of Morningthorpe St John the Baptist and Fritton St Catherine are two of 124 existing round-tower churches in Norfolk.

The village was struck by an F1/T2 tornado on 23 November 1981, as part of the record-breaking nationwide tornado outbreak on that day.[2]

Morningthorpe round tower

Morningthorpe has a round tower rather larger than that at neighbouring Long Stratton: the tower appears to bulge out about halfway up, which, according to the article in Round Tower magazine September 2004, may be evidence of an octagonal tower built inside a round one. The article has photographs of repair work done to the tower in 1988 - one shows a corner of an "octagon" inner tower core, not bonded to the outside, while another suggests a bonded, and rounded, core. There are narrow openings in the tower with monolithic heads in worn pale stone, the openings filled with old-looking wooden boards pierced with vertical rows of round holes. Taylor & Taylor, Anglo-Saxon Architecture seek to assign this tower to the later Saxon period (or earlier Norman).

Civil parish

On 1 April 1935, the parish of Fritton was merged with Morning Thorpe.[3] The new parish was renamed from "Morning Thorpe" to "Morningthorpe and Fritton" on 1 May 2012.[4] In 1931 the parish of Morning Thorpe (prior to the merge) had a population of 110.[5]

Notable people

The ornithologist Howard Irby was born here in 1833 at Boyland Hall.[6] The hall was demolished in 1947.[7]

Paulina Irby, the campaigner for Bosnian Serb refugees was born here in 1831.

British racing driver St. John Horsfall was born here in 1910.[8]

The author Joseph Dickerson was born here in 1943.

Tommy Hicks – later the entertainer Tommy Steele, and his family, were evacuated here from London during World War Two.

References
  1. "Civil Parish population 2011". Retrieved 8 September 2015.
  2. "European Severe Weather Database".
  3. "Relationships and Changes Morning Thorpe AP/CP through time". A Vision of Britain through Time. Retrieved 7 February 2023.
  4. "Notice of change of name of parish" (PDF). Lgbce. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 January 2018. Retrieved 14 March 2018.
  5. "Population statistics Morning Thorpe AP/CP through time". A Vision of Britain through Time. Retrieved 7 February 2023.
  6. H. M. Vibart, ‘Irby, Leonard Howard Loyd (1836–1905)’, rev. Alex May, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 27 Feb 2013
  7. Boyland Hall Archived 2012-07-26 at the Wayback Machine
  8. "St John HORSFALL • STATS F1".
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