Morningthorpe
| Morningthorpe | |
| Norfolk | |
|---|---|
 St John the Baptist, Morningthorpe | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | TM217925 |
| Location: | 52°29’10"N, 1°15’54"E |
| Data | |
| Population: | 267 (2011) |
| Post town: | NORWICH |
| Postcode: | NR15 |
| Dialling code: | 01508 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | South Norfolk |
Morningthorpe (sometimes Morning Thorpe) is a village in Norfolk, twelve and a half miles south of Norwich and half a mile from Fritton.
The village's name origin is uncertain perhaps, 'outlying farm/settlement of the pool dwellers', 'outlying farm/settlement of the boundary dwellers' or 'outlying farm/settlement of Mæra's people'.
The 2011 census recorded a parish of 267.
The churches of Morningthorpe St John the Baptist and Fritton St Catherine are two of 124 existing round-tower churches in Norfolk.
Morningthorpe round tower
Morningthorpe has a round tower rather larger than that at neighbouring Long Stratton: the tower appears to bulge out about halfway up, which, according to the article in Round Tower magazine September 2004, may be evidence of an octagonal tower built inside a round one. The article has photographs of repair work done to the tower in 1988 - one shows a corner of an "octagon" inner tower core, not bonded to the outside, while another suggests a bonded, and rounded, core. There are narrow openings in the tower with monolithic heads in worn pale stone, the openings filled with old-looking wooden boards pierced with vertical rows of round holes. It has been suggested[1]that this tower is of the later Saxon period, or earlier Norman.
Outside links
- Information on Morningthorpe from GENUKI
- Information on Morningthorpe from GENUKI
- St John the Baptist's: European Round Tower Churches
- St Catherine's: European Round Tower Churches
References
- ↑ Taylor & Taylor, Anglo-Saxon Architecture
- Place-Names