Place:Thwaite St. Mary, Norfolk, England

source: Family History Library Catalog

the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia

Thwaite St. Mary is a rural hamlet (and civil parish) in the English county of Norfolk, it sits just a few miles north of the Suffolk border. Thwaite – sometimes pronounced ‘twayt’ by locals – has approximately 35 dwellings and a population of around 79 according to the UK census of 2001; in 2011 the population remained under 100 inhabitants and was counted with the neighbouring parish of Hedenham.

Due to its rural location and minimal air and light pollution, Thwaite is home to an astronomical observatory run by the University of East Anglia. The village also backs on to the tiny Seething Airfield, formerly RAF Seething which utilises part of the runway from an old American wartime airbase. The 1941 control tower still stands and serves as a museum to the war years and to the 448th Bombardment Group (Heavy) in particular.

A Vision of Britain through Time provides the following description of Thwaite St. Mary from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72:

"THWAITE-ST. MARY, a parish in Loddon [registration] district, Norfolk; 3½ miles N of Bungay [railway] station. Post town: Bungay. Acres: 676. Real property: £1,089. Population: 136. Houses: 29. The property is chiefly divided between two. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Norwich. Value: £200. Patron: the Duke of Norfolk. The church is tolerable."

Research Tips

• GENUKI provides a list of references for Thwaite St. Mary. Some entries lead to free online transcriptions of registers and censuses.
• A map illustrating the individual parishes of Loddon Hundred may be useful.
• GENUKI also advises that the following lists for Norfolk are to be found in FamilySearch:

• England, Norfolk, Parish Registers (County Record Office), 1510-1997
• England, Norfolk Archdeacon's Transcripts, 1600-1812
• England, Norfolk Bishop's Transcripts, 1685-1941
• England, Norfolk Marriage Bonds, 1557-1915
• England, Norfolk Non-conformist Records, 1613-1901

• Ancestry.co.uk has the following lists as of 2018 (UK or worldwide Ancestry membership or library access required). With the exception of the index to wills these files are browsible images of the original documents. The files are separated by type and broken down into time periods (i.e., "Baptism, Marriages, and Burials, 1535-1812" is more than one file). The general explanatory notes are worth reading for those unfamiliar with English parish records.

• Index to wills proved in the Consistory Court of Norwich : and now preserved in the District Probate Registry at Norwich
• Norfolk, England, Bishop's Transcripts, 1579-1935
• Norfolk, England, Church of England Baptism, Marriages, and Burials, 1535-1812
• Norfolk, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1915
• Norfolk, England, Church of England Deaths and Burials, 1813-1990
• Norfolk, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1940

• FindMyPast is another pay site with large collection of parish records. As of October 2018 they had 20 types of Norfolk records available to browse including Land Tax Records and Electoral Registers.