Ashfield cum Thorpe is a

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 authority ...

in the Mid Suffolk district of

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

, England, between the town of

Framlingham Framlingham is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Suffolk, England. Of Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Saxon origin, it appears in the 1086 Domesday Book. The parish had a population of 3,342 at the 2011 Census and an estimated 4, ...

to the East and the village of Debenham to the West. It is of

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

origin and is mentioned in 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 ...

, when it had a population of around 45 adult men (and total population probably similar to the current figure). It has a church and a village hall, and used to have a school, a pub and two shops. Some of the houses in the village date back to the 15th century. The name "Ashfield cum Thorpe" (Ashfield with Thorpe) refers to the

, which consists of the village of Ashfield and the nearby hamlet of Thorpe. The church of St Mary existed in Ashfield at the time of the

, and at some time after, St Peter's church was built at Thorpe. This latter fell into ruins by around 1600, and the church at Ashfield was used by both sets of villagers. The patron of St Mary's was

Baron Henniker Baron Henniker, of Stratford-upon-Slaney in the County of Wicklow, is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1800 for Sir John Henniker, 2nd Baronet, who had previously represented Sudbury and Dover in the House of Commons. His so ...

Thornham Magna Thornham Magna is the larger sister village of Thornham Parva on the former estate of Thornham Hall, the Henniker family seat, in Suffolk. It is about from Eye and close to the A140 road from Norwich to Ipswich. The two villages, both mention ...

. By the late 18th Century, Ashfield church was in disrepair, and it was the turn of Ashfield villages to use Thorpe church. This went on until 1853, when Lord Henniker paid for a new St Mary church in Ashfield. Thorpe church was rebuilt in 1739 by George Pitt, retaining its late Saxon tower. Thorpe church is now in ruins, only part of the tower remaining. The village was briefly featured in an episode of the BBC television mockumentary sitcom

People Just Do Nothing ''People Just Do Nothing'' is a British television mockumentary sitcom, created and performed by Allan Mustafa, Steve Stamp, Asim Chaudhry and Hugo Chegwin. The programme follows the lives of MC Grindah, DJ Beats and their friends, who run K ...

. Nearby villages include Earl Soham,

Monk Soham Monk Soham is a village in Suffolk, eastern England, four miles (6.4 km) northeast of Debenham and six miles (10 km) northwest of Framlingham. The neighbouring villages are Bedfield, Ashfield cum Thorpe, Kenton, Suffolk, Kenton and Bedi ...

Kenton Kenton may refer to: Places Canada *Kenton, Manitoba South Africa *Kenton-on-Sea United Kingdom *Kenton, Devon *Kenton, London **Kenton station, Kenton Road, Kenton, London *Kenton, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear *Kenton, Suffolk **Kenton ra ...

. Debenham and Framsden.

Notable residents

* John Chapman (1865-1933),

Roman Catholic priest The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the Holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in layman's terms ''priest'' refers only ...

born in the village who was the 4th

Abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. The fem ...

of Downside Abbey and founded

Worth School Worth may refer to: Places In the United States: *Worth, Georgia *Worth County, Georgia *Worth, Illinois *Worth Township, Cook County, Illinois *Worth Township, Woodford County, Illinois *Worth Township, Indiana *Worth Township, Michigan *Worth, ...

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ar ...

References

External links

*
Parish website

* * Civil parishes in Suffolk Mid Suffolk District {{Suffolk-geo-stub