Thorpe St Andrew is a small town and suburb of Norwich in the English county of Norfolk. It is situated about two miles east of the city centre, outside the city boundary in the district of Broadland. It constitutes a civil parish covering an area of which had a population of 13,762 according to the 2001 census, increasing to 14,556 at the 2011 Census. It is also the administrative headquarters of the Broadland district council.
History
Thorpe is in the Domesday Book, in which it is spelt ‘Torp’, which is a Scandinavian word meaning village. It is thought that the Danes were in East Anglia as early as 870 AD and in 1004 Sweyn and his ships came up the river to Norwich. There is also evidence that Thorpe was occupied by the Romans with the discovery of various remains. The earliest references found that relate to the parish are under the names of ‘Thorpe Episcopi’ and ‘Thorpe-next-Norwich’. In later years, it has been known as ‘Thorpe St Andrew’. The Norfolk County Asylum was established in the village in May 1814. East Anglia's worst rail crash happened at Thorpe St Andrew in 1874, killing 25 people and injuring 75. Parts of the original village can still be seen along the Yarmouth Road leading out of Norwich. Features here include St Andrews parish church, the former parish infants school, the Rivergarden public house and the multi-gabled Buck public house.
Facilities
There are numerous leisure facilities, groups and organisations including the County Arts indoor and outdoor bowling club on Plumstead Road, Thorpe Kite Flyers, Starlight Express Majorettes and the Oasis Sports and Leisure Centre on Pound Lane. The is situated on Thorpe Island, opposite the Rivergarden, and offers rowing on the River Yare. Religious groups of many denominations meet regularly all over Thorpe. The localhigh school is Thorpe St Andrew High School; it was established in its present form in 1977, with what are now the North and South sites of the high school being separate secondary modern and grammar schools respectively from their initial opening in the late 50s/early 60s. The high school is fed by several small primary schools from the local villages along with 3 large primary schools within Thorpe St Andrew. These schools are Dussindale, St Williams and Hillside. In recent years, Thorpe St Andrew has expanded eastwards in the shape of the Dussindale housing development, which includes Dussindale Primary School, which opened in 2007 and Broadland business park. Thorpe St Andrew is also the home the radio station 99.9 Radio Norwich. The studios are based near Thorpe River Green and the station started broadcasting on 29 June 2006. Adat Yeshua Messianic Synagogue meets regularly at Roxley Hall on the Yarmouth Rd in Thorpe St Andrew. Information is available on the website www.adatyeshua.co.uk Thorpe lies on the River Yare which is part of the Norfolk Broads network of navigable rivers. Thorpe Green is on the main Yarmouth Road and gives access to the river with the opposite bank being an island after the creation of the new cut which allowed vessels to make their way to and from the city of Norwich without traversing the village via two low bridges that carry the railway to Yarmouth, Lowestoft, Cromer and Sheringham. Once the location of thriving boat yards, Thorpe Island now offers mooring for mainly liveaboard vessels. The only operating boat yards in Thorpe are now towards the east of the village where there are two hire boat operators as well as private facilities and boat building operations. The village offers a number of pubs, some riverside at Thorpe Green, cafe, barbers, restaurants and takeaways, convenience stores, butchers, post office, a couple of beauty salons, fish & chip shop and a Sainsbury's supermarket at the foot of the Dussindale development. A commemorative World War One plaque stands at the River Green war memorial site. It was unveiled on 4 August 2014 by two local schoolchildren, Harry and Aimee Fuller who attended Hillside Avenue Primary School. These to children are the son and daughter of the caretaker at hillside.
Roads
Thorpe St Andrew is bisected by two major roads running from East to West: the A1042 and A1242. The A1242 or Yarmouth Road is part of the old Norwich to Great Yarmouth road.
