Thorley, Hertfordshire

Thorley

St James the Great Church, Thorley
Thorley
Thorley shown within Hertfordshire
Population 626 (2011 Census)[1]
OS grid reference TL 476 189
District
Shire county
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town BISHOP'S STORTFORD
Postcode district CM23
Police Hertfordshire
Fire Hertfordshire
Ambulance East of England
EU Parliament East of England
UK Parliament

Thorley is a village and civil parish in East Hertfordshire district of Hertfordshire, England. The parish includes the hamlets of Thorley Street, Thorley Wash and Old Thorley, and is bordered at the north to the market town of Bishop's Stortford.

History

Thorley is listed in the Domesday book as "Torlei", belonging to Geoffrey de Mandeville, a notable Norman baron. During the reign of Edward the Confessor, Thorley Manor belonged to Earl Tostig.

Thorley is less than one mile north from Blounts Farm in the adjoining parish of High Wych, the place where the criminal Harry Roberts was found by police during a long manhunt after he had participated in the murder of three London based policemen. He was found in a barn hiding under straw.

Landmarks

Thorley Church, dedicated to St James the Great, dates to the 13th century and includes a Norman font and a three-seat sedilia. The pulpit was designed by Gilbert Scott. There is a one-thousand-year-old yew tree in the graveyard, which also has the grave of Daniel Defoe's sister. The graveyard is entered through a lychgate dating from the 1920s. The stocks and whipping post that stood in the graveyard until the late 20th century have now been moved to the Bishop's Stortford Museum. Samuel Horsley was rector of the Church from 1779–1782, following in the footsteps of his father John, who was rector from 1745-1777.[2] From 1594 to 1610, the rector was Francis Burley, one of the translators of the King James Bible[3] A 16th-century Tudor barn in the adjoining farm was converted from pig barn to a church and community centre in 1996 with the help of a £1 million endowment.

Thorley Wash nature reserve is a Site of Special Scientific Interest owned and managed by the Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust between the village and the Stort Navigation.[4]

Amenities

Thorley has its own cricket club, Thorley C.C. The nearest local primary schools are Manor Fields Primary and Richard Whittington Primary, and Thorely Hill Primary which is on the same site as the Bishop's Stortford High School, all within and at the south of Bishops Stortford.

See also

The Hundred Parishes

References

  1. ↑ "Civil Parish population 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
  2. ↑ Bishop's Stortford and Thorley history and guide
  3. ↑ "Friends of St James". Retrieved 10 October 2016.
  4. ↑ "Thorley Wash". Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust. Retrieved 11 March 2015.
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