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THORPE ST. ANDREW EPISCOPI - A CHURCH GUIDE
HISTORICAL NOTES
Thorpe St Andrew is both an ecclesiastical and a civil parish. The former includes Episcopi in its title, and the latter was known as Thorpe-next-Norwich. The parish has a long and interesting history. There is archaeological evidence to show that the area was inhabited during the Roman occupation. The name Thorpe is derived from the Danish Torp meaning village, suggesting that there was a settlement here before the Norman Conquest.
The parish, which originally included Thorpe Hamlet, was once a part of Mousehold an area of forest and heathland, which during the Middle Ages, extended from Norwich to Wroxham. The principal roads in Thorpe St Andrew, such as Plumstead Road East and Telegraph Lane (now in Thorpe Hamlet) were once tracks through the forest and heathland.
At the time of the Doomsday Survey (1085 - 6) the principal landowner in Thorpe was the King who had seized the land from Stigand the Archbishop of Canterbury. In 1095 Bishop Herbert de Losinga moved his bishopric from Thetford to Norwich creating the Diocese of Norwich. The cathedral, was founded in 1096. In 1101 King Henry I gave the Manor of Thorpe to the Bishop of Norwich and his successors (hence the title Episcopi). The earliest recorded priest in Thorpe was the Rev’d Thomas de Middleton in 1200. He was Vicar but all his successors have been Rectors. A summer palace for the Bishop was built in the parish beside the River Yare during the 1300s, and the present day Old Thorpe Hall is built on its foundations.
In 1404 Thorpe Hamlet, the land from Harvey Lane westwards to the River Wensum in Norwich, came under the city’s jurisdiction: but it remained in the ecclesiastical Parish of Thorpe St Andrew
Episcopi. As Lord of the Manor the Bishop of Norwich was the patron of the living of Thorpe St Andrew and the last priest to be presented by the Bishop was the Rev’d Bartholomew Holt in 1531.
In 1537 King Henry VIII deprived the bishop of his Thorpe manorial rights. A free school was founded in 1587 in the parish.
The Parish Registers date from 1642 and most of them are kept in the Norfolk Record Office. Between 1670 and 1700 the Rev’d Samuel Chapman was Rector and during his incumbency he endowed the school. After his death his widow Mary founded the Bethel Hospital in Norwich. She died in 1724 and her grave is in the Parish Churchyard. In 1754 a new Rectory (103 Yarmouth Road) was built by the Rev’d Richard Humfrey who was Rector between 1753 and 1813. He provided £100 for a house for the school master. A new school-room was built by Thomas Vere in 1760.
In 1814 St Andrews Hospital was founded. It was known formerly as The County Asylum and was situated at the eastern end of the parish. The Hospital closed in 1998 and the original listed building and the chapel have been converted into private dwellings. In 1844 the first railway in Norfolk opened. It was a single track line from Great Yarmouth to Norwich and passed through Thorpe St Andrew. crossing the River Yare twice. The Cut, a channel to the south of the river, was built so that vessels too big to sail under the railway bridges could still navigate to and from Norwich. There was a disastrous railway accident near the Rushcutters Inn in 1874. Two trains collided head-on. This accident attracted much publicity nationally and prompted improvements to railway safety.
In 1859 an Independent Chapel was established in Chapel Lane, Thorpe St Andrew. Also in that year the last burial took place in the Parish Churchyard, and a new cemetery just over a mile to the east of the Parish Church along the Yarmouth Road was opened. In recent times land has been designated in the Churchyard for the burial of cremated remains. When the Independent Chapel closed it was purchased by the Rector (in 1883) who later sold it to the parishioners (in 1897). The building was enlarged in 1910 and was used as a church and parish hall for many years. It was sold in 1966.
Until the 20th century the parish of Thorpe St. Andrew was a small, self sufficient village, surrounded by several farms. Its position and visual amenities attracted wealthy people who built large houses overlooking the river. Originally the parish was in the Blofield Hundred. Later it became part of the Blofield and Flegg Rural District. Even as late as 1891 the population (apart from the staff and patients in St Andrews Hospital) was only 1,318. In 1895 the Parish Council was formed. In 1898 a branch of the Mothers’ Union was started in the Parish.
During the 20th century the village grew considerably. By the 1930s houses and bungalows were being built in new roads such as Gordon Avenue, Furze Road, St William’s Way and along the existing Thunder Lane. In the second half of the 1950s the Yarmouth Road was widened and the famous (or infamous) Thorpe Narrows disappeared for ever, along with several cottages and other properties.
In 1974 the civil parish became part of the new Broadland District Council area. During the latter half of the 20th century, the ecclesiastical parish was transferred from the Blofield Deanery to the Norwich East Deanery, and the Rectory was moved twice to different locations in Thunder Lane. 1977 saw activities on River Green for the Queen’s Silver Jubilee and a beacon was lit on the Recreation Ground in Laundry Lane. A parish festival, spread over several days, was held in 1979 with numerous activities including an art exhibition in the Village Hall. In 1986 a railway exhibition in the Village Hall marked the centenary of the footbridge at the former Whitlingham Station (opposite the south end of Thunder Lane). Mr Patrick Thompson. M.P., opened a picnic area near the footbridge on Railway Sunday. The beacon was again lit, to mark the 50th anniversary of VE and VJ days.
The Parish Council celebrated its own centenary in 1995 and local organisations were invited to take part in a procession from Pound Lane to the Norwich Union Sports Ground. In recent years the Council has published a newspaper “The Beacon”. It contains details of all the organisations, clubs and societies, catering for the varied interests of the community in the parish, as well as news and other articles.
Also during the 1990s new building development took place in the eastern end of the parish and overlapped into Postwick. This included the eastern end of the Southern By-pass, and necessitated the construction of a bridge over the River Yare. Although the bridge did not preclude holiday cruisers from using the river, it did prevent larger vessels sailing up to Norwich. During the 20th century and since, many trees have been planted in the parish, including a plantation in Laundry Lane and trees on River Green (one in memory of Princess Diana).
THE PARISH CHURCH - HISTORY
A church dedicated to St Andrew has stood on this land to the north of the River Yare since medieval times. The site is now part of the Thorpe St Andrew conservation area. The present church, constructed between 1864-6, is a listed building. It replaced the earlier one which was demolished in the 1880s. The faculty for the new building stipulated that the medieval church must be left "to form a picturesque ruin". The ruin is also listed.
The earlier church was only 25 yards long and seven yards wide with a thatched roof and a tower A parapet was added to the tower in the mid 15th century. It was known as the Thorpe Wonder because it was the same height as the ridge of the nave roof. The tower formed the entrance to the church (as does the tower to the present Church) and contained one bell, dated 1708, and possibly a second one. On the exterior of the south facing wall there is a sundial dated 1694, with the initials of the then churchwardens, J E and E K (John Ellis and Edward King). Inside the church the altar was raised on two steps. A stained glass window depicting the Crucifixion was installed in 1856 and other windows dated from about 1400. There was a gallery at the west end and a 15th century chancel screen at the east end of the nave.
At a vestry meeting in May 1862 it was decided that additional accommodation was to be provided but no special rate was raised. Instead subscriptions were invited and as a result £520 was raised. In 1864 it was agreed to build a new parish church (the present building). Thomas Jekyll was appointed as the architect and the building contract was awarded to Mr. Cornish of North Walsham. The new church was consecrated by the Bishop of Norwich on 31st May 1866 and a full report of this was published in the Norwich Mercury on 2nd June 1866. After 1867 the Rectory was “moved” from 103 Yarmouth Road to the property immediately to the west of the Parish Church. There were insufficient funds to build a tower at that time, but in 1881-2 a new tower with a spire 150 foot high was erected, and in 1883 a ring of eight bells was installed. Bomb damage in 1944 weakened the spire, and in the mid 1950's it was removed and replaced by the present single pyramid roof. In 1975 further restoration work on the tower was undertaken. In 1960 a choir vestry and meeting room was built against the north wall of the church.
In 1966 the present Parish Church celebrated its centenary and was floodlit. The parish celebrations for the Queen’s Silver Jubilee in 1977 included a Civic Service and Flower Festival in the Parish Church. In 1988 there was a special Songs of Praise Service and a Flower Festival in the Parish Church as part of the River Sunday celebrations. During the 1990s Songs of Praise Services with the Salvation Army Band were held on River Green. The 50th anniversary of VE and VJ days were commemorated in the parish in 1995 with services on River Green. The Golden Jubilee of the Queen’s Accession was marked in the Parish Church in 2002 by a Flower Festival.
THE PRESENT PARISH CHURCH
The entrance to the church leads into the south aisle, which until recently contained the Lady Chapel. Over the doorway there is a funeral hatchment. Beyond the pillars is the nave. At the west end there is a 13th century font. It is plain and octagonal and was once in the former church. A new font was provided when the present church was built because the 13th century font was “missing“. However it was found and replaced the Victorian font (now used as a flower bed in the churchyard). Behind and above the font is a cross with Christus Victor - Christ Reigning in Glory.
The glass in the Rose Window was inserted in 1969 in memory of the Greengrass family. The symbols are of the twelve apostles. From the top, in a clockwise direction, they are: Peter (the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven), Andrew, James the Great, John, Thomas, James the Less, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Simon, Jude and Matthias. The glass is the work of Dennis King of Norwich.
On the west wall there is a wooden War Memorial. Some of the church pillars are decorated with pelicans: these are symbolic of Our Lord's sacrifice on the Cross. (In the Middle Ages it was believed that the pelican’s curved beak was used to draw blood from its own breasts to feed its young).On the north wall of the nave is a painting on wood entitled The Lamentation by an artist in the 16th century who was a member of Lambert Lombard’s Circle of Flemish Artists.
The nave altar has been in place since 2001. This altar was formerly in the Lady Chapel. The altar frontals are changed according to the Church seasons and festivals. A special frontal for the Lady Chapel was made and embroidered by a needlework class in the parish. It features symbols relating specifically to Our Lord and the Blessed Virgin Mary. The lectern was given in 1917 in memory of Mrs. Maude Anna Helen Supple, the then Rector's wife. It is a reproduction of an earlier one. In the north east corner of the nave is a statue of St Andrew, given in memory of Gertrude Ann Watson. The village sign depicting St Andrew is based on this statue.
The screen was erected in 1920 as a Great War Memorial. The design is based on the chancel screen in the former church. The faces of the Apostles are those of the religious and political leaders from the turn of the last century. On the back of the screen are trawlers and fish (because St. Andrew was a fisherman). It is believed that this was the first screen to be erected in a Norfolk Church since the Reformation.
Beyond the screen is the chancel and the sanctuary. There is a tabernacle on the high altar the sanctuary. The curtain matches the altar frontals. Note the ceiling above the sanctuary.
The three manual organ on the south side of the chancel was built by Abbot and Smith of Leeds. It was dedicated on Christmas Eve 1901 in memory of Queen Victoria. The women of Thorpe raised funds to pay for the choir organ. In October 2001 Bishop and Son began work on its restoration.
The chancel windows depict (from left to right) St. Andrew, the call of St. Matthew, the Crucifixion, Christ reigning in glory, Jesus and the disciples going to Emmaus, and the Annunciation. At the east end of the south aisle there is a statue of Our Lord and the Blessed Virgin Mary, given in memory of Ethel Copeman. There are three stained glass windows in the south aisle:-
The Birkbeck Window at the east end shows St. John the Baptist and St. John the Divine. Underneath are two small pictures, one of the Kremlin and the other of Magdalene College, Oxford. William Birkbeck, (d 1901) fostered relations between Anglicans and the Russian Orthodox Church. The middle window is of St. George and St. Elizabeth of Hungary. The third window depicts the Holy Family in the upper section and Our Lord in the house of Martha and Mary in the lower part. This window was given by the local branch of the Royal British Legion in 1983 as a tribute to the families of HM Forces.
On leaving the church there are two connecting porches; the outer one is under the tower. The various monuments have come from the former church. The window in the east wall of the outer porch is in memory of Elizabeth Herring. On the west wall there is a Great War Memorial and a list of parish priests from 1200 to the present day. The tower contains a clock facing south and has a ring of eight bells tuned to the key of F. They were cast by Moore, Holmes and Mackenzie, Agricultural Engineers and Bellfounders, Harleston and hung in 1883. The Churchyard has a flagpole, erected in 1976. The Dovecote was installed in 2000. The trees include Yew, Irish Yew, Holm Oak, Holly and Box. One noted parishioner whose grave, surrounded by low railings, is on the site of the former chancel is Mrs. Mary Chapman, who died in 1724. She was the wife of the then Rector, and founded the Bethel Hospital for the mentally ill in Norwich. The Churchyard is maintained by a team of volunteers from the congregation.
THE CHURCH OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD and SAINT ANDREW'S CENTRE
In 1912 the Church of the Good Shepherd was founded by Miss Birkbeck (whose family had become patrons of the living) in the grounds of The Cottage (Miss Birkbeck‘s home, now The Cottage public house). This church, a small timber building, was to serve the spiritual needs of people living in the expanding northern part of the parish. It was decided that a new church was needed and in 1935 land at the junction of St. Williams Way and Thunder Lane was purchased for this purpose. In 1950 the foundation stone for a new Church of the Good Shepherd was laid on this site. On the 4th October 1951 the Bishop of Norwich dedicated the new Church. The original church was later moved from the Cottage grounds and re-erected alongside the new church. It served for many years as the Good Shepherd Church Hall. The church celebrated its Silver Jubilee in 1976. On 4th October 2001 the Bishop of Norwich, the Rt Rev’d Graham James was the celebrant and preacher at a special eucharist to mark this. A reception, buffet supper and an exhibition concluded the celebrations. In 2002 a Flower Festival in the Church marked the Golden Jubilee of the Queen’s Accession.
THE INTERIOR OF THE CHURCH OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD
In the nave the two statues of Our Lord the Good Shepherd and Our Lord with the Blessed Virgin Mary came from the former Church of the Good Shepherd. The Stations of the Cross were given in memory of Mr Pullen and the picture on the west wall is in memory of Michael Howard who died tragically at the age of six. The font cover was designed, made and given by a former member of the congregation. The Paschal Candle Stand was given in memory of Edith and Charles Addison and June and George Carter.
In the chancel there is an icon on the south wall. The altar rails were given by Mr and Mrs Girling. A shelf has recently been fitted to the rear of the altar, and new altar frontals and linen, given by members of the congregation, were dedicated during the Easter Vigil 2002. The curtain behind the altar is new, and given in thanksgiving for a Golden Wedding in 2001.
THE EXTERIOR OF THE CHURCH OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD
The church roof houses a bellcote, and a bell dated 1708, which once hung in the old parish church, and then in a former chapel in the Yarmouth Road cemetery.
A tree has been planted within the church precincts in memory of Mrs Pilgrim as well as those to commemorate the Queen’s Coronation in 1953, the Millennium and the Golden Jubilee of the Church on its present site. The grounds surrounding the Church and St Andrew’s Centre are maintained by members of the congregation.
A new church hall, called the St. Andrew's Centre, to the west of the Good Shepherd Church, was dedicated by the Bishop of Thetford, the Rt Rev’d Hugh de Waal, in May 1994. The foundation stone was laid by Mrs. Winnie George on 8th September 1993.
THORPE HAMLET
Thorpe Hamlet, which extends from the River Wensum in Norwich eastwards as far as Harvey Lane, came under the city's jurisdiction in 1404, but ecclesiastically it remained within the parish of Thorpe St. Andrew. From the early 1800s the population of Thorpe Hamlet began to increase rapidly. In 1851 a new church, dedicated to St Matthew and overlooking the River Wensum, was consecrated to serve the spiritual needs of this new community. Thorpe Hamlet became a separate ecclesiastical parish in 1852, with the Rector of Thorpe St Andrew as its patron. A new parish church for Thorpe Hamlet , also dedicated to St. Matthew, was built in Telegraph Lane West and consecrated in 1981.
This guide was researched by our former churchwarden, Auriol Hughes, and is based upon the following:
The Rev'd William Rathborne Supple "A History of Thorpe-next-Norwich" published by Jarrolds, 1917
The Rev'd Canon Brian R Pearson "A Guide to the Parish Church of Thorpe St. Andrew Episcopi"
The Norwich Mercury Newspaper of 2nd June 1866
Kelly and Co. Kelly's "Dictionary of Norfolk", published in 1896
Mackerell "Notes on Norfolk Churches" as used by the Rev'd William Rathborne Supple in his book quoted above.
This guide is provided free of charge, but it would be appreciated if you could make a donation towards the running of the church (in the box by the door).
 The Font
 The Lectern
The Parish of Thorpe St. Andrew Episcopi's Vicar and Rectors
c1200 Thomas de Middleton
(Vicar) 1558 John Barrett
c1256 William 1559? William Canvas
(Parson of Thorpe) 1569 German Gardyner
1303 John de Nassington 1586 Robert Brook
1332 ThomasCook 1587 Robert Garrett
("Cocus de Lenn'') 1587 Thomas Twaights
1339 Thomas de Hiltoft 1607 Robert Feilden
1342 Simon de Cley 1642 Robert Blofeld
1343? John de Breydeston 1670 Samuel Chapman
1350 Laurence de Lyttleton 1700 Charles Cobb
? Thomas Rery· 1706 Thomas Tanner
1396 Nicholas Fuller 1731 Edward Capper
1399 Thomas Revell 1753 Richard Humfrey
1405 Cutet 1813 James Maxwell
1428 John Benet 1857 Armine Herring
1433 John Spurling 1867 John Patteson
? Richard Wheeler 1896 Francis Robinson Phelps
1415 Robert Rogere 1909 William Rathbome Supple
1476 Robert Godfrey 1930 Herbert B J Armstrong
1477 Richard Foo 1938 Reginald Fielding
1508 Stephen Thorpe 1959 Frank Jolley·
1531 Bartholomew Holt 1972 Brian R Pearson
1551 John Brown 1991 Antonv John Snasdell
2005 Barry Oake
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