THORPE-NEXT-NORWICH, or T.-St. Andrew, a parish in Norwich and Blofield districts, Norfolk; on the river Yare, and on the Norwich and Yarmouth railway, 2 miles E of Norwich. A picturesque village is on the Yare, and a recent railway bridge spans the river. Thorpe-Hamlet is the part within Norwich district, and has a post-office under Norwich. Acres of the parish, 2,525. Real property, £14,414; of which £800 are in gasworks. Pop. in 1851, 3,000; in 1861, 3,841. Houses, 752. The increase of pop. arose from the erection of houses suburban to Norwich. The manor was given by Henry I. to the Bishops of Norwich; had a palace of the Bishops; was exchanged away to Henry VIII.; and belongs now to W. Birkbeck, Esq. The Norfolk lunatic asylum, erected in 1814, is 1 mile SE of the village. A section of the parish, under the name of T.-St. Matthew, was made a separate charge in 1852. The head living is a rectory, and that of St. Matthew is a p. curacy in the diocese of Norwich. Value of the former, £600;* of the latter, £99.* Patron of the former, W. Birkbeck, Esq.; of the latter, the Rector. A new church was built in 1866. There are an Independent chapel, an endowed school with £45 a year, a free school, and charities £77.

(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))