Tilney St Lawrence is a village and a civil parish in the English county of

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

Ordnance Survey (2006). ''OS Explorer Map 228 – March & Ely''. The village is west of

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

, south-south-west of

King's Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is located north of London, north-east of Peterborough, no ...

and north of London. The nearest town is

Wisbech Wisbech ( ) is a market town, inland Port of Wisbech, port and civil parish in the Fenland District, Fenland district in Cambridgeshire, England. In 2011 it had a population of 31,573. The town lies in the far north-east of Cambridgeshire, bord ...

which is west-south-west of the village. The village lies to the south of the route of the A47 between

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...

and

Kings Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is located north of London, north-east of Peterborough, no ...

. The parish of Tilney St Lawrence in the 2001 census had a population of 1,465, increasing to 1,576 at the 2011 Census. For the purposes of local government, the parish falls within the

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

King's Lynn and West Norfolk King's Lynn and West Norfolk is a local government district with borough status in Norfolk, England. Its council is based in the town of King's Lynn. The population of the Local Authority at the 2011 Census was 147,451. History The district was ...

Description

Tilney St Lawrence is located within a large parish of the same name, situated in the West Norfolk Local Government District. The parish has an area of . The parish also contains the villages of Tilney St Lawrence, Tilney cum Islington and Islington. The parish that exists today used to be two separate parishes. They were Tilney St Lawrence and Tilney-cum-Islington which were combined in 1935 to form the fourth largest parish in the Marshland region. The name ''Tilney'' is thought to derive from the

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

for ''Tibba's homestead'', and ''St Lawrence'' refers to the dedication of the village parish church. The name ''Islington'' is thought to derive from the Old English for ''enclosure of Elesa's people''.

History

The Roman period

At one time it is thought that there were two Roman waterways that ran to a junction within the parish. The Aylmer Canal was constructed between 43 AD and 409 AD and was used for transport and communication through the local area. The environment around the canal during the Roman period of occupation is uncertain, but it may have been waterlogged silts or

peat Peat (), also known as turf (), is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, moors, or muskegs. The peatland ecosystem covers and is the most efficien ...

lands. It is thought that the canal was partially washed away by a sea inundation during the 2nd or 3rd century. The Spice Hills Canal, built around the same period, ran along a south-west, north-east line and appears to approach and almost certainly join the Aylmer canal. Today the canals appear visible as an earthworks on aerial photographs.

Medieval

The village of Tilney St Lawrence did not exist in its own right at the time of the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

although the settlement of Islington, which lies in the very northeast corner of this parish, is listed. Today very little is left of the settlement of Islington, which is thought to have been a populous and a valuable Late Saxon settlement, with a number of salt houses and a church. This church is likely to have been the present day St Mary's Church, which lies redundant and largely ruined. By the late 13th century, Tilney St Lawrence had overtaken Islington as the main settlement within the parish and had a church dedicated to St Lawrence.

Governance

Tilney St Lawrence is part of the

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected to t ...

called St Lawrence. The population of this ward at the 2011 census was 2,467.

Amenities

The nearest railway station is at

for the Fen Line which runs between

and

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

Saint Lawrence Parish Church

This is a plain looking marshland church with the outside mainly rendered in concrete. The church was almost entirely rebuilt in 1846.Norfolk 2: Norfolk: North-west and South, By

Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (1 ...

and Bill Wilson, Tilney St Lawrence entry. 0-300-09657-7 It has a

cruciform Cruciform is a term for physical manifestations resembling a common cross or Christian cross. The label can be extended to architectural shapes, biology, art, and design. Cruciform architectural plan Christian churches are commonly described ...

plan and a somewhat disproportionate appearance,The King's England series, NORFOLK, by Arthur Mee,Pub:Hodder and Stoughton,1972, page 313/314 Tilney St Lawrence, the

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ove ...

being much higher than the rest of the church. The tower, though restored, is largely in its original decorated form. A plaque inside records that it was surmounted by a spire during the restoration, but this has now gone. The church has a plain marble font and a

trefoil A trefoil () is a graphic form composed of the outline of three overlapping rings, used in architecture and Christian symbolism, among other areas. The term is also applied to other symbols with a threefold shape. A similar shape with four rin ...

piscina A piscina is a shallow basin placed near the altar of a church, or else in the vestry or sacristy, used for washing the communion vessels. The sacrarium is the drain itself. Anglicans usually refer to the basin, calling it a piscina. For Roman ...

with an old credence shelf."Credence"
article from ''

The Catholic Encyclopedia The ''Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church'' (also referred to as the ''Old Catholic Encyclopedia'' and the ''Original Catholic Encyclopedia'') i ...

'' The new transept incorporates two older arches. There is also a small proportion of the original screen remaining.

Notable people

John Aylmer

John Aylmer was born in the village at Aylmer Hall in 1521. He was a great friend of

Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk, 3rd Marquess of Dorset (17 January 151723 February 1554), was an English courtier and nobleman of the Tudor period. He was the father of Lady Jane Grey, known as "the Nine Days' Queen". Origins He was born on ...

, Marquis of Dorset who sent him to study at Cambridge where he became a fellow of

Queens' College Queens' College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Queens' is one of the oldest colleges of the university, founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou. The college spans the River Cam, colloquially referred to as the "light s ...

. Grey made him his chaplain and tutor to his daughter

Lady Jane Grey Lady Jane Grey ( 1537 – 12 February 1554), later known as Lady Jane Dudley (after her marriage) and as the "Nine Days' Queen", was an English noblewoman who claimed the throne of England and Ireland from 10 July until 19 July 1553. Jane was ...

. This exceptionally gifted girl told

Roger Ascham Roger Ascham (; c. 151530 December 1568)"Ascham, Roger" in ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th edn., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 617. was an English scholar and didactic writer, famous for his prose style, ...

that her achievements were due to ''Mr Aylmer, who teaches me so gently, so pleasantly, and with such fair allurements to learning that I think all the time nothing while I am with him''. It appears that this gentle and encouraging tutor became, as

bishop of London A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

from 1577 until his death in 1594, increasingly unpopular because of his arbitrary and unconciliatory disposition. His work, particularly his characterisation of England as a mixed monarchy, would be important to later English constitutionalists.

References

External links

* * {{authority control Villages in Norfolk King's Lynn and West Norfolk Civil parishes in Norfolk