Discover Thurgarton

Thurgarton has a clear historical focus, with its church and priory history and the archaeological finds on Castle Hill. Alongside these is the Walter Hilton Way, a pilgrimage route designed as a day walk. If you are looking for a hotel for your stay, a simple decision can help: should local history or the day route take centre stage? The following sections cover both interests and travel planning.

Church and priory

The Church of St Peter in Thurgarton is a Grade I listed building. Inside, it preserves three 15th-century choir stalls with carved misericords. This places the building’s protected status alongside a specific detail of its furnishings. Misericords are carved supports on choir stalls; the term draws attention to the craftsmanship of the seats.

The Augustinian Priory of St Peter was founded around 1119–1139 and dissolved in 1538. The substructure of the medieval west cloister survives as the cellar of the adjoining house. The founding and dissolution mark the priory’s historical timeframe; the cellar remains link a surviving building feature to its use as a cellar. Thurgarton thus brings together the history of the priory and a specific example of how part of its architecture has been preserved.

Archaeological traces on Castle Hill

Excavations in the 1950s uncovered two small timber-built churches on Castle Hill. A medieval burial ground was uncovered during excavations from 1951 to 1955. The dates provide different levels of detail: the discovery of the churches is placed within a decade, while the dates for the burial ground are given as 1951 to 1955. Together, the finds represent religious buildings and medieval burial on the same hill. These archaeological traces add another perspective on Thurgarton to the themes of church and priory history.

The Walter Hilton Way

The five-mile Walter Hilton Way is a one-day route from Thurgarton Priory to Southwell Minster. Its length and one-day format help with two different planning questions: the distance gives the route’s length, while the one-day classification indicates how it fits into a day’s plans. Within Thurgarton, the route runs from the village centre along Priory Road to the churchyard of the Priory Church of St Peter. After leaving the churchyard, a sharp right-hand bend leads onto a public bridleway. Along the way, a small bridge crosses a “dumble”, the local term for a deeply cut stream. This makes it possible to identify the route by specific waypoints, not just by its total length. As trail conditions can change, check the route before setting out.

Getting there and planning

Train services on the Nottingham–Newark route vary. Allow an additional half-mile walk along Station Road to reach the village centre. Keep this separate from the five miles of the Walter Hilton Way: the half-mile refers to the additional walk to the village centre, while the five miles are the pilgrimage route from Thurgarton Priory to Southwell Minster. For your plans, it is worth checking current train services and trail conditions before travelling.

Use these points to guide your search according to which focus shapes your trip.

Discover more destinations: Clifton, Sutton In Ashfield, Colston Bassett, Upper Broughton, East Retford, Torworth, South Clifton, Misterton

For the wider travel overview: Nottinghamshire.