Purple Route - West
Purple Route – West
Start at Minstergate car park.
1 Burrell Museum
The Charles Burrell Museum is housed in the old paint shop of the Burrell works. The museum tells the story of the Burrell family and the magnificent traction engines that were built here. Inside three full sized working engines are on display. The building itself contains one of the earliest Belfast Roof trusses in England and dates from 1903.
Proceed left out of the car park and make your way through the pedestrian underpass, turning left after exiting.
2 Thetford Priory
The Cluniac Priory dates from the early 12th century and was once the burial site of the Dukes of Norfolk and Henry VIII’s son, Henry Fitzroy. Visitors included Henry VII, Katherine of Aragon and Thomas Wolsey. The priory was the last but one to be dissolved during the reformation. Spend some time exploring the Priory site.
After visiting the Priory continue along the riverside path to the small bridge where a new gravel path along the river begins.
3 Water meadows
The water meadows are a home to wide variety of fauna and flora. The meadows are now partially mown whilst other areas remain uncut to encourage wildlife.
In 2020 Creeping Marshwort (Helosciadum repens) was discovered growing here, and near nun’s Bridges by Thetford Town Council Conservation Volunteers. It is a critically endangered Schedule 8 plant* and is currently only found at one other site in Britain – a set of water meadows in Oxfordshire.
Creeping Marshwort is an umbellifer, meaning that its lovely little white flowers look a bit like very tiny, flat versions of the familiar cow parsley that lines country lanes in Spring. The plant is small, only a few cm across, and very low-growing, but there are several hundred of them, spread all over the scraped area.
*It’s protected status means that it is illegal to pick or uproot the plant.
Proceed along the gravel path alongside the river.
4 Blaydon Bridge
The Bridge was built in 1970 at a crossing point of the Icknield Way. Named after the long serving George Blaydon who was clerk to the Borough council. The river has been instrumental in the development of Thetford, being used as a transport route for both people and goods for centuries. Downstream a control weir has been built upon the site of the 1st Stanch. Stanches were simple single gate locks that allowed water levels to be maintained between the stanches. The path ahead continues as the Little Ouse Path to Brandon.
Cross the bridge and turn left.
5 Haling Path
Across the grassed area beyond the Blaydon Bridge stone plaque, nestled amongst the trees, is the site of 12th century Red Castle which was built upon one end of the Viking ditch and bank that curved in an arc to the Nuns Bridges in the east. The Viking town was the largest in East Anglia during the 10th century and boasted its own mint and pottery industry.
The Haling path is a corruption of ‘hauling path’ which was used by the horses pulling the shallow draft barges know as lighters. The Thetford Navigation was subject to Act of Parliament in the 17th century and continued in use until the early 20th century.
Follow the Haling Path towards the town centre.
6 Little Ouse river
This is a good place to observe the birdlife in the area, including the brightly coloured Kingfisher. If you are lucky, you may spot one of Thetford’s otters which have been known to frequent the area. Look out for the coppiced alder trees and the weeping willows that thrive in the damp conditions.
7 Inner Relief Road Bridge
The bridge was built in 1968 to relieve the A11 traffic passing through the town. This bridge carried the main A11 road until the Thetford bypass was opened in 1989.
Continue along the Haling Path to the town bridge.
8 Flint pill box
The pill box has been incorporated into the wall of the school and was built during WWII to defend the town bridge. A small flint bench is visible through the school’s hedge and this was installed as part of Channel 4’s Time Team visit when they were seeking to find evidence of Thetford’s cathedral before the Bishopric was moved to Norwich in the 11th century. The Grammar School is one of the oldest seats of learning in the country with a headmaster’s roll going back over 900 years.
Continue to the town bridge.
9 Town Bridge
The current bridge is at the site of one of the crossing points of the ancient Icknield Way, one of the oldest roads in the country. The bridge information panel tells the story of the river traffic over the centuries and the importance of this wharf area.
Turn left crossing over the bridge and walk towards St Peter’s Church.
10 Minstergate
Minstergate incorporates the Anglo-Saxon word “mynster” meaning monastery and the Viking word “gata” meaning street. What is now Whitehart Street, named after the old coaching inn, was previously called Bridgegate Street again incorporating the Viking terminology. Along Whitehart Street is the Ancient House, Museum of Thetford Life, well worth a visit if you have time and at the top of Whitehart Street is Thomas Paine’s birthplace, now the Thomas Paine Hotel which houses a free exhibition about Paine.
Turn left at the Bell corner into Minstergate.
11 Pudding Stone
Set into the path by the Minstergate sign is a pudding stone. The puddingstone is a conglomerate rock so named for the mixture of stones contained within it. The rock is an erratic stone not usually found in the area and thus being distinctive, has been used for way markers for millennia. When the nearby Museum House was built, the foundations of a 12th century building were unearthed along with a lead papal bulla of Pope Alexander III.
Continue along Minstergate.
12 St Nicholas Works
Across the road from the Burrell Museum is St Nicholas House which stands on the site of the medieval St Nicholas’ church, the tower of which remained until the 18th century. The church gave its name to the Burrell’s St Nicholas’ Works which occupied the 3-acre riverside site until the firm’s closure in 1928.
The Minstergate car park is in front of you and marks the end of the trail.
Links
Charles Burrell Museum
https://www.charlesburrellmuseum.org.uk/
Thetford Priory
https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/thetford-priory/
Little Ouse Path
https://www.norfolk.gov.uk/42907
Viking Thetford
https://brecks.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/River-Raiders-Final-Report.pdf
The Pudding Stone Track
https://www.hiddenea.com/Suffolk%20PTD.htm
The 13 eras of Thetford
Thetford’s Heritage – thetford TC (thetfordtowncouncil.gov.uk)