Thurston is a village and a parish in

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 ...

situated about east of

Bury St Edmunds Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as Bury, is a historic market town, 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 – ...

and west of

Stowmarket Stowmarket ( ) is a market town in Suffolk, England,OS Explorer map 211: Bury St.Edmunds and Stowmarket Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton A2 edition. Publishing Date:2008. on the busy A14 road (Great Britain), A14 trunk ...

. In mid-2005, Thurston's estimated population was 3,260, making it one of the larger communities in the area, falling slightly to 3,232 at the 2011 Census.

Thurston railway station Thurston railway station serves the village of Thurston in Suffolk, England. The station, and all trains serving it, are operated by Greater Anglia. It is served primarily by local services between Ipswich and Cambridge. History Thurston st ...

opened in 1846 and is still operating today. The village also has a frequent bus service to neighbouring towns, including Bury St Edmunds. The village is located under from the A14 and under from the

M11 motorway The M11 is a motorway that runs north from the North Circular Road (A406) in South Woodford to the A14, northwest of Cambridge, England. Originally proposed as a trunk road as early as 1915, various plans were considered throughout the 1960s ...

History

The village is recorded 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 ...

as having a population of 66 households. It was part of the lands of the

Abbey of Bury St Edmunds The Abbey of Bury St Edmunds was once among the richest Benedictine monasteries in England, until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539. It is in the town that grew up around it, Bury St Edmunds in the county of Suffolk, England. It was ...

, then one of the largest landlords in England. Thurston was located in the middle of

Thedwastre Hundred Thedwastre (also Thedwestry) was a hundred of the county of Suffolk, England covering an area of . It formed part of the Liberty of Saint Edmund, under the jurisdiction of the abbots of Bury St Edmunds. The hundred is about twelve miles (19&n ...

, an administrative district in the

middle ages 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 ...

. The town sign depicts a tree, representing "Theodwards’s tree". This tree may have been the meeting place of the Hundred Court in Thedwastre Road, Thurston. By the 1870s, the village had grown substantially. It is mentioned in

John Marius Wilson John Marius Wilson (c. 1805–1885) was a British writer and an editor, most notable for his gazetteers. The ''Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales'' (published 1870–72), was a substantial topographical dictionary in six volumes. It was a c ...

Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales The ''Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales'' is a substantial topographical dictionary first published between 1870 and 1872, edited by the Reverend John Marius Wilson. It contains a detailed description of England and Wales. Its six volumes h ...

as a community with 2,200 acres of land, a population of 740 and 157 households. As of July 2017, an additional 700 homes are to be built, increasing the village population by nearly 50%. This has been met with controversy and is currently under review. The village's farming past is reflected in its

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 Irel ...

s, which include several former farmhouses and associated farm buildings.

St. Peter's Church is at the geographical centre of the village and has services every Sunday at 10.30 am. The original church was

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, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

, but was largely rebuilt in 1861 after a dramatic collapse of the tower onto the nave the night before major renovations were due to begin. Its architect was John Henry Hakewill (son of the distinguished architect

Henry Hakewill Henry Hakewill (4 October 1771 – 13 March 1830) was an English architect. Biography Early life Henry Hakewell was a pupil of John Yenn, RA, and also studied at the Royal Academy, where in 1790 he was awarded a silver medal for a drawing of a ...

), and rebuilding took 18 months and cost around £3,500. Some 14th and 15th-century features, including the font, chancel windows and vestry were retrieved and reinstated in the Victorian church. The church is Grade II

listed Listed may refer to: * Listed, Bornholm, a fishing village on the Danish island of Bornholm * Listed (MMM program), a television show on MuchMoreMusic * Endangered species in biology * Listed building, in architecture, designation of a historicall ...

. The church's ring of five bells was augmented to six, after a donation of a bell from St Albans Abbey by the charity the Keltek Trust in 2012. Thurston also has a small

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

church in Church Road, which also conducts regular services. The original village hall, still known as The Cavendish Hall, was gifted (both land and building costs) to Thurston in 1913 by Julia Florence Cavendish, the American-born wife of Tyrell William Cavendish, who lost his life on the ''Titanic''. The couple had joined the ship's maiden voyage to New York to see Julia Cavendish's father Henry Siegel shortly after purchasing Thurston House, which they were renovating. After Tyrell's death, Julia asked the Parish Council if the Hall could be built as his memorial, but sold Thurston Hall without living in it.

Village amenities

In addition to Cavendish Hall, Thurston has a second hall, known as the New Green Centre, which opened in 1991. It is set in parkland and operates as a venue for village sports activities, clubs, meetings and events. Other activities in the village include an

Air Training Corps The Air Training Corps (ATC) is a British volunteer-military youth organisation. They are sponsored by the Ministry of Defence and the Royal Air Force. The majority of staff are volunteers, and some are paid for full-time work – including C ...

squadron. The village has two pubs, The Victoria on Norton Road and The Fox and Hounds on Barton Road, near the railway line. There is also a bar at the Grange Hotel (formerly known as Thurston Grange), a mock Tudor hotel with banqueting and conference facilities. There is a small business park, known as Thurston Granary, located in the village and other businesses include Harvey's Garden Plants, a family-run garden centre/tea room that has won Gold Medals at

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

. The local public

upper school Upper schools in the UK are usually schools within secondary education. Outside England, the term normally refers to a section of a larger school. England The three-tier model Upper schools are a type of secondary school found in a minority of ...

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 ...

, with about 1,500 pupils from the village and surrounding communities. The school also has a sixth form, with 400–500 students, and a primary school with around 200 students. The village has two churches; the parish church, St Peter's, which is part of the a joint benefice with Great Barton parish church, and a branch of Forge, a non-conformist multi-site free church based in Suffolk.

References

External sources

Thurston Parish Site

External links

{{authority control Villages in Suffolk Mid Suffolk District Civil parishes in Suffolk Thedwastre Hundred