Rushford is a small village in the

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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

of Brettenham, in the

Breckland Breckland in Norfolk and Suffolk is a 39,433 hectare Special Protection Area (SPA) under the European Union Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds. The SPA partly overlaps the 7,544 hectare Breckland Special Area of Conservation. As a la ...

district, in the 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 ...

, England. It is situated on the north bank of the

River Little Ouse The River Little Ouse, also known as the Brandon River, is a river in the east of England, a tributary of the River Great Ouse. For much of its length it defines the boundary between Norfolk and Suffolk. It rises east of Thelnetham, close to ...

, east of the town of

Thetford Thetford is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Breckland District of Norfolk, England. It is on the A11 road (England), A11 road between Norwich and London, just east of Thetford Forest. The civil parish, coverin ...

and south of the main

A1066 road This is a list of A roads in zone 1 in Great Britain beginning north of the River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. ...

. The river forms the boundary between Norfolk and

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

and, until 1894, Rushford was in both counties. Rushford Hall is south of the river and thus in Suffolk. In 1931 the parish had a population of 94. On 1 April 1935 the parish was abolished and merged with Brettenham. Filming for the film '' Witchfinder General'' starring Vincent Price and Ian Ogilvy took place here in 1967. The village's name means 'Rush enclosure'.

Notable residents

* Sir John Cheke, tutor to

King Edward VI Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) was King of England and King of Ireland, Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death in 1553. He was crowned on 20 February 1547 at the age of nine. The only surviving son of Henry VIII by his thi ...

, was granted Rushford, which was a

royal manor The Crown Estate is a collection of lands and holdings in the United Kingdom belonging to the British monarch as a corporation sole, making it "the sovereign's public estate", which is neither government property nor part of the monarch's priv ...

, by the King. *

Edmund Gonville Edmund Gonville (died 1351) was an English priest who founded Gonville Hall at the University of Cambridge in 1348, which later was re-founded by John Caius to become Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. Gonville Hall was his third foundation. ...

, a founder of

Gonville and Caius College Gonville and Caius College, commonly known as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348 by Edmund Gonville, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges an ...

, was rector of Rushford from 1326 to 1342 and founded Rushworth College here.

References

External links

Rushford Church Website
* Villages in Norfolk Former civil parishes in Norfolk Breckland District {{Norfolk-geo-stub