Norton is a 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 Mid Suffolk district of the English county 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 ...

. The name Norton means northern town or farm.Norton Village website
Retrieved 2013-01-31. Located close to the A14, its nearest railway station is at

Elmswell Elmswell is a village and civil parish in the county of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St.Edmunds and Stowmarket Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton A2 edition. Publishing Date:2008. It is situated halfway b ...

, just over away. The closest towns are Stowmarket away and

Bury St Edmunds Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as Bury, is a historic market, cathedral town and civil parish in Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St.Edmunds and Stowmarket Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton ...

, around away.

History

The village once formed part of

Blackbourn Hundred Blackbourn was a hundred of Suffolk, consisting of . Blackbourn hundred was situated in the north-west of Suffolk. Its northern boundary is the Little Ouse forming the border with Norfolk, and the River Lark forms part of its western boundary. ...

, which appears 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 ...

. Its agricultural past is reflected in the number of

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

s in the village today that are former barns, stables and cartlodges.Norton, Suffolk
British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 2013-01-31. An 1870s gazetteer of Britain describes the parish as comprising 2,449 acres and having a population of 948. It also mentions it as a meet for the Suffolk fox hounds. The Dog, Norton - geograph

The village today

Today the village has a population of around 800. Community facilities include a Greene King pub called "The Norton Dog" and a village shop located in the Total service station on

Woolpit Woolpit ( ) is a village in the English county of Suffolk, midway between the towns of Bury St. Edmunds and Stowmarket. In 2011 Woolpit parish had a population of 1,995. It is notable for the 12th-century legend of the green children of Woolpit ...

Road.Norton Dog
The Suffolk Real Ale Guide, CAMRA. Retrieved 2013-02-01./ A mobile Post Office is located next to the village hall every weekday afternoon. Norton has a pre-school next to the village hall and a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Brit ...

voluntary primary school, with children generally moving on to middle school in the nearby communities of Ixworth and

Beyton Beyton is a village and civil parish in the Mid Suffolk district of the English county of Suffolk. The village is around east of Bury St Edmunds, south-east of Thurston, Suffolk, Thurston and north-west of Stowmarket. The main Ipswich to Bury ...

. Secondary education is provided at

Thurston Community College Thurston Community College is a co-educational secondary school and sixth form located in Thurston, Suffolk, England. As of 2018, it has 1,733 students aged 11–18 drawn from the local village and surrounding rural communities. History Thn C ...

. The community is served by three churches, with a

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul c ...

church and Salvation Army citadel on Woolpit Road. The

Medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

Church of St Andrew at Norton, located some way from the centre of the village, contains a collection of eight 14th century misericords and is believed to stand on the site of a Saxon church. Norton is served with a bus service to Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket which operates on a daily basis.

Little Haugh Hall

Near the village is Little Haugh Hall, a Grade II* listed building. In the 18th century it was the home of the antiquarian Cox Macro.

References

External links

Norton village website
{{authority control Villages in Suffolk Mid Suffolk District Civil parishes in Suffolk