Thursford

Thursford
Norfolk
Thursford village green
Location
Grid reference:	TF979344
Location:	52°51’36"N, 0°57’36"E
Data
Population:	205  (2011)
Post town:	Fakenham
Postcode:	NR21
Dialling code:	01328
Local Government
Council:	North Norfolk
Parliamentary constituency:	North Norfolk

Thursford is a village in Norfolk, seven miles north-west of its nearby town, Fakenham, sixteen miles southwest of Cromer and 24 miles north-west of Norwich.

The village once had its own Thursford railway station which is now closed. It is a proposed stop on the Norfolk Orbital Railway.

The village's name means 'Giant ford' or 'demon ford'.

Thursford parish church is dedicated to St Andrew and has some fine examples of Victorian stained glass windows. The church was rebuilt in the early 1860s with money given by the Chad family who lived in the nearby Thursford Hall.

Thursford Collection

Thursford is the home of the Thursford Collection, which is an assortment of steam engines and fairground organs housed in a museum. The collection was founded by local man, the late George Cushing, and what began as a hobby turned into one of the world's most important steam and fairground museums. The collection includes a Mighty Wurlitzer theatre organ, which is the fourth largest in Europe and has a total of 1,339 pipes. There is also a 19th-century gondola roundabout which was built in the Norfolk factory of Frederick Savage. The ride is decorated with carved heads depicting Queen Victoria and her family, including the German Kaiser Wilhelm II.

The collection and museum is also famous for its popular summer and winter musical shows. The annual Christmas "Spectaculars" attract coachloads of devotees from around the country and must be booked months in advance.

One of the organs in the collection, a Wellershaus, was seen and heard in the Dad's Army television episode Everybody's Trucking, which originally aired on 15 November 1974.

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Thursford)