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

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

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

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

, 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 north-east of Peterborough, north-north-east of Cambridg ...

and north of London. The nearest town is

Wisbech Wisbech ( ) is a market town, inland 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, bordering Norfolk and ...

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 City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in the City of Peterborough district in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire, England. The city is north of London, on the River Nene. A ...

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 north-east of Peterborough, north-north-east of Cambridg ...

. 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 county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

King's Lynn and West Norfolk King's Lynn and West Norfolk is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Norfolk, England. Its council is based in the town of King's Lynn. The district also includes the t ...

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 , or ), 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 developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

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 is an accumulation of partially Decomposition, decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, Moorland, moors, or muskegs. ''Sphagnum'' moss, also called peat moss, is one of the most ...

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 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

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 t ...

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

Amenities

The nearest railway station is at Watlington Railway Station for the Fen Line which runs between

and

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

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'' (195 ...

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

cruciform A cruciform is a physical manifestation resembling a common cross or Christian cross. These include architectural shapes, biology, art, and design. Cruciform architectural plan Christian churches are commonly described as having a cruciform ...

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 (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

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, Pagan and Christian symbolism, among other areas. The term is also applied to other symbols with a threefold shape. A similar shape with f ...

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. Lutherans and Anglicans usually refer to the basin, calling it a pisci ...

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 Encyclopedi ...

'' 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, 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 17 ...

, 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 16 "old colleges" of the university, and was founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou. Its buildings span the River Cam with the Mathematical Bridge an ...

. Grey made him his chaplain and tutor to his daughter

Lady Jane Grey Lady Jane Grey (1536/1537 – 12 February 1554), also known as Lady Jane Dudley after her marriage, and nicknamed as the "Nine Days Queen", was an English noblewoman who was proclaimed Queen of England and Ireland on 10 July 1553 and reigned ...

. This exceptionally gifted girl told

Roger Ascham Roger Ascham (; 30 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, his pr ...

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 The bishop of London is the Ordinary (church officer), ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of London in the Province of Canterbury. By custom the Bishop is also Dean of the Chapel Royal since 1723. The diocese covers of 17 boroughs o ...

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