Sturston is a deserted village and
civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...
in the
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
county
A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...
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 ...
. It is situated some north of the town of
Thetford
Thetford is a market town and civil parish in the Breckland District of Norfolk, England. It is on the A11 road between Norwich and London, just east of Thetford Forest. The civil parish, covering an area of , in 2015 had a population of 24, ...
and
25 miles south-west of the city 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 ...
.
The village became deserted when it was taken over by the
British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
during the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
as part of the
Stanford Battle Area, an
infantry
Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and mar ...
training area that is still in use today. The village and most of the parish are within a prohibited area and access is not allowed without special permission from the Army.
The civil parish has an area of and in the
2001 census had no inhabitants. 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 county, counties, several municipality, municipa ...
of
Breckland.
References
* Ordnance Survey (1999). ''OS Explorer Map 229 - Thetford in the Brecks''. .
* Rootsweb.com (1998–2006).
Ghost Towns/Deserted Villages of Great Britain'. Retrieved 17 February 2006.
* Office for National Statistics & Norfolk County Council (2001).
Census population and household counts for unparished urban areas and all parishes'. Retrieved 2 December 2005.
External links
Information from Genuki Norfolkon Sturston.
on the Stanford Battle Area and its deserted villages and churches.
Former populated places in Norfolk
Villages in Norfolk
Ghost towns in England
Civil parishes in Norfolk
Breckland District
{{Norfolk-geo-stub
Forcibly depopulated communities in the United Kingdom during World War II