Gunthorpe, Norfolk
Gunthorpe is a village and a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The civil parish also includes the village of Bale.
Gunthorpe is located north east of the town of Fakenham and north-west of Norwich.
History
Gunthorpe's name is of Viking origin and derives from the Old Norse for Gunni's farmstead.In the Domesday Book of 1086, Gunthorpe is listed as a settlement of 18 households in the hundred of Holt. In 1086, the village was part of the East Anglian estates of King William I and Peter de Valognes.
Gunthorpe Hall was originally built in 1789 to the design of Sir John Soane, the architect who designed the Bank of England building in Threadneedle Street in 1778, and was renovated in 1880 by William Butterfield. The Hall is a large part Georgian, part Victorian Hall and at one time had forty rooms and a separate stable block and coach house. The hall is a Grade II listed building.
Geography
According to the 2021 census, Gunthorpe has a population of 229 people which shows a decrease from the 244 people recorded in the 2011 census.The A148, between King's Lynn and Cromer, passes through the civil parish.
St. Mary's Church
Gunthorpe's parish church is dedicated to Saint Mary and dates from the Fourteenth Century. St. Mary's is located outside of the village on Bale Road and has been Grade II listed since 1959. The church remains open for Sunday services twice a month.St. Mary's was mostly re-built by Frederick Preedy in the 1860s at the instigation of Canon John Henry Sparke of Gunthorpe Hall.
Notation
The Acute Stroke Unit in Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital is named after this village.Governance
Gunthorpe is divided into two electoral wards of Gunthorpe North & Gunthorpe South for local elections and is part of the district of North Norfolk.The village's national constituency is North Norfolk, which has been represented by the Liberal Democrat Steff Aquarone MP since 2024.
War Memorial
Gunthorpe War Memorial is a grey granite cross in St. Mary's Churchyard which lists the following names for the First World War:| Rank | Name | Unit | Date of death | Burial/Commemoration |
| Lt. | Douglas F. F. Shennan | 4th Bn., Rifle Brigade | 8 May 1915 | Menin Gate |
| 2Lt. | Marcus F. Oliphant | 5th Bn., Norfolk Regiment | 12 Aug. 1915 | Helles Memorial |
| Cpl. | Richard Warnes | 7th Bn., Norfolk Regt. | 26 Mar. 1916 | Vermelles Cemetery |
| Pte. | George Shearing | 1st Bn., Norfolk Regt. | 15 May 1917 | Orchard Dump Cemetery |
| Pte. | Arthur Chapman | 5th Bn., Norfolk Regt. | 21 Aug. 1915 | Helles Memorial |
| Pte. | Charles Bunn | 12th Bn., Norfolk Regt. | 11 Mar. 1918 | Jerusalem War Cemetery |
| Pte. | George D. Price | 1st Bn., Northamptonshire Regiment | 18 Nov. 1917 | Buffs Road Cemetery |
| Pte. | Geoffrey W. Stevens | 13th Bn., Royal Sussex Regiment | 26 Apr. 1918 | Tyne Cot |