Thorley, Hertfordshire

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Thorley
Hertfordshire
St James the Great Church, Thorley - geograph.org.uk - 234170.jpg
St James the Great, Thorley
Location
Location: 51°50’49"N, 0°8’57"E
Data
Post town: Bishop's Stortford
Postcode: CM23
Local Government
Council: East Hertfordshire
Parliamentary
constituency:
Hertford and Stortford

Thorley is a village in Hertfordshire, encompassing the hamlets Thorley Street, Thorley Wash and Old Thorley. These hamlets are found near Bishop's Stortford in the east of the county. Thorley is listed in the Domesday Book as Torlei, belonging to Geoffrey de Mandeville, one of the wealthiest Norman barons after the Conquest. During the reign of Edward the Confessor, Thorley Manor belonged to Earl Tostig; the one who died a traitor at Stamford Bridge.

Thorley has its own cricket club: Thorley CC and it lends its name to the nearby housing estate, Thorley Park. A very successful primary school, Manor Fields, is situated within the estate.

Bishop's Stortford has swollen out to reach the Thorley hamlets. Thorley itself (Old Thorley) is barely a hall and church, across the town's bypass, their old fields absorbed within modern developments. Thorley Street and Thorley Wash stretch along the road south from the town centre, the former within the ring of the bypass but just about distinct. Thorley Houses is a hamlet further northwest, just outside the Bishop's Stortford bypass.

Parish church

Thorley Church, dedicated to St James the Great, dates from the 13th century and has a Norman font and a three-seat sedilia. The pulpit was designed by Gilbert Scott. There is a one thousand year old yew tree in the graveyard, which also has the grave of Daniel Defoe's sister. The graveyard is entered through a fine lychgate dating from the 1920s. The stocks and whipping post that stood in the graveyard until the late 20th century have now been moved to the Bishop's Stortford Museum.

Samuel Horsley was rector of the Church from 1779–1782, following in the footsteps of his father John, who was rector from 1745-1777.[1] From 1594 to 1610, the rector was Francis Burley]], one of the translators of the Authorised Version of the Bible under King James I[2]

Other buildings and developments

The 16th century Tudor Barn in the adjoining farm was converted from pig barn to church and community centre in 1996 with the help of a £1 million endowment.

Thorley is near the housing estate of St Michael's Mead, within walking distance from Bishop's Stortford town centre.

Trivia

Thorley was the place where the criminal Harry Roberts was found by police during a long manhunt after he had participated in the murder of three London based policemen. He was found in a barn hiding under straw.

Outside links

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("Wikimedia Commons" has material
about Thorley, Hertfordshire)

References