England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Thelveton St Andrew

The Parish

The parish of Thelveton lies in the extreme south of Norfolk not too far from the border with Suffolk. Thelveton is located roughly 3 miles east of the market town of Diss and stands on the former route of the A140 road which links Norwich with Ipswich, that road now bypasses to the east. Thelveton is a crossroads settlement sitting around a T-junction of Church Road with the old A140. it is also an estate village with the Hall a good example of Elizabethan design following the traditional E-plan layout. Thelveton parish sits on high quality farmland and today it is totally dominated by arable farming, at the time of this transcript roughly 1/rd was pasture but very little remains so today. Modern developments have come to the parish with the Norwich to London railway line passing through the west of the parish, in addition the new A140 bypass is one of the few stretches of dual-carriageway highway along that route. Thelveton is drained southwards by the Frenze Beck which soon reaches the River Waveney, here water turns eastwards, as the border between the two counties, to reach the port of Great Yarmouth and thus to the North Sea. Thelveton is sited at around 40 metres above the sea in generally flattish terrain, land rises gently eastwards to pass the 50 metres contour in just a few spots. Thelveton parish was relatively small in extent, covering just 1,200 acres it would have supported a population of close to 150 parishioners. In Domesday times Thelveton was shared 3-ways with Gilbert the Bowman having the largest share, a mid-sized arable manor at that date it offered 9 ploughs backed by typical meadows & woodland.

The Church

St Andrew's church stands a little over a half mile west of the village within fields on the southern side of Church Road, it is reached by a short sandy access track. Whilst there has been a church here from the 12th century, at least, there is little remaining of that early church, Pevsner cites a blocked northern doorway as evidence for the 12th century Norman Romanesque period. Like so many East Anglian churches St Andrew was then rebuilt during the 14th and 15th centuries, a time when wool drove a wealthy economy and the resources to invest in churches. The main core of the church is thus Perpendicular in style with the nave and chancel as a single continuous structure, the church also has, at that time a square western tower. That tower met with disaster in 1757 when it collapsed, the decision was taken not to rebuild so the western wall was merely sealed against the elements and a small bellcote seated atop the western end. A typical Victorian restoration of 1864 did little beyond replacing windows but further changes in the late 19th century added the brick southern porch and the vestry. The verge by the entrance track is safe enough for parking as traffic volumes are light, the churchyard is curiously tnarrow on the east/west dimension limiting views to those directly from both north & south.