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This guide can only give the reader a small snapshot of the town’s fantastic story from the Neolithic flint miners that extracted the prized black flint from the area known as Grimes Graves, north of the town, some 5,000 years ago through to when the Iceni tribe would have inhabited the region while building important defensive and ceremonial centres in the area. Later, Thetford was the principal settlement in East Anglia during the Viking period and was the sixth largest town in the country at the time of the Norman Conquest. The town was an important ecclesiastical centre during the medieval period and has a claim to being one of the oldest mayoralties in the country. Thetford’s most famous son, Thomas Paine, turned the world upside down in the eighteenth century. In the nineteenth century Burrell Traction Engines were exported from Thetford around the globe and many proudly bear the Thetford name, around the world today. During the twentieth century, the area had many important military links, many of which continue today. Following the town’s expansion during the 1960’s and 70’s Thetford is now home to businesses producing many well known household products. Today Thetford is also known as the headquarters of the acclaimed British Trust for Ornithology and for Thetford Forest which attracts an ever increasing number of visitors each year. More recently, a proposal to commission a statue to commemorate the town’s links with the popular TV series, Dad’s Army, has captured the public imagination around the globe.

Notable dates in Thetford’s history

4,000 BC After initial woodland clearance by Neolithic farmers, the landscape changes from forest to heathland. The pre-historic Icknield Way forms part of a longer route linking the north Norfolk Coast to Salisbury Plain.

2,500 BC Neolithic flint mines are developed at Grimes Graves to the north of the town.
500 BC The local Iron Age kingdom of the Iceni construct fortifications. Strategically sited close to the river crossing point of the Icknield Way, these defences were later incorporated into the Castle Hill site.

AD 40 The Iceni build a massive ceremonial site on Gallow’s Hill.

AD 60 Boudicca’s rebellion against the Romans fails and the Gallow’s Hill site is destroyed.

AD 380-90 The Thetford Treasure, a hoard of Roman gold & silver is buried on Gallow’s Hill, close to the former ceremonial site of the Iceni.
400-600 A Saxon settlement is established in the Red Castle area, west of the present town centre.
869-70 Viking invasion begins and a raiding army winters in the town. A decisive battle is fought nearby and the East Anglian King Edmund is killed.

888-990 Thetford grows rapidly in population and status, having its own mint.

1004 The Viking King Swein Forkbeard invades and burns Thetford.

1010 The town is again attacked by Swein after defeating the Ulfketel in a battle at Ringmere near Thetford.

1066 At the time of the Norman Conquest Thetford is the sixth largest in the country with around 4,000 people.

1070 Thetford Castle ‘motte’ is built within the Iron Age fortifications. The mound or ‘motte’ is the tallest medieval earthwork in the country.

1071 The cathedral is moved from North Elmham and established at Thetford making it the centre of the region.

1094 The cathedral is moved to Norwich.

1190 Circumstances suggest Richard I grants the town a charter.

1337 A Guildhall is built on the present site.

1574 Queen Elizabeth I grants the town its Charter of Incorporation.

1578 Queen Elizabeth I visits Thetford.

1603 King James I makes frequent visits to Thetford to hunt and stays at his hunting lodge, now King’s House.

1642-6 Thetford is a staunch supporter of Parliament and acts as an important mustering point for troops heading west.

1737 Thomas Paine born in White Hart Street

1829 A cast iron bridge is built over the Little Ouse River.

1845 The railway arrives in Thetford and the stage coach services cease soon after.

1848 Charles Burrell manufactures his first portable steam engine.

1863 The Maharajah Duleep Singh acquires the nearby Elveden Estate.

1914-20 Thetford Camp acts as an assembly point for troops before being deployed to the front and as a demobilization centre once an armistice is declared.

1922 Forestry Commission begin planting the trees that now form Thetford Forest.

1942 An area to the north of the town is taken over by the War Office as a military training area. The Stanford Training Area is still intensively used today.

1959 Thetford begins a great period of expansion as a result of an agreement with London to accept industries and residents as part of an ‘overspill’ scheme.

1974 Thetford Borough Council hands over many of its functions to the County and the newly formed Breckland District Council as part of the local government reorganisation.

1989 The town finally gets the A11 bypass.

1993 Queen Elizabeth II visits the town.

1999 The town celebrates the 800th anniversary of the first Mayor and the Prince of Wales visits the town officially unveiling the Duleep Singh statue on Butten Island and opening the Gentle Bridge near Nuns Bridges.

2006 Thetford awarded ‘Growth Point Status’ signalling another period of expansion for the town.