Thursford is a village and a civil parish

Civil parish

In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...

 in the English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 county of Norfolk

Norfolk

Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...

. The village is 16.3 miles south-west of Cromer

Cromer

Cromer is a coastal town and civil parish in north Norfolk, England. The local government authority is North Norfolk District Council, whose headquarters is in Holt Road in the town. The town is situated 23 miles north of the county town, Norwich, and is 4 miles east of Sheringham...

, 24.5 miles north-west of Norwich

Norwich

Norwich is a city in England. It is the regional administrative centre and county town of Norfolk. During the 11th century, Norwich was the largest city in England after London, and one of the most important places in the kingdom...

 and 121 miles north-east of London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

. The village lies 6.9 miles north-west of the nearby town of Fakenham

Fakenham

Fakenham is a town and civil parish in Norfolk, England. It is situated on the River Wensum, some north east of King's Lynn, south west of Cromer, and north west of Norwich....

. The nearest railway station is at Sheringham

Sheringham railway station

Sheringham railway station is a timber halt in the town of Sheringham in the English county of Norfolk. The station is the terminus of the Bittern Line, operated by National Express East Anglia, and is 49 km north of...

 for the Bittern Line

Bittern Line

The Bittern Line is a railway line from Norwich to Cromer then Sheringham in Norfolk, England. It is one of the most scenic in the East of England traversing the Norfolk Broads on its route to the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty on the North Norfolk Coast. The line is part of the Network Rail...

 which runs between Sheringham

Sheringham

Sheringham is a seaside town in Norfolk, England, west of Cromer.The motto of the town, granted in 1953 to the Sheringham Urban District Council, is Mare Ditat Pinusque Decorat, Latin for "The sea enriches and the pine adorns"....

, Cromer and Norwich. The nearest airport is Norwich International Airport

Norwich International Airport

Norwich International Airport , also known as Norwich Airport, is an airport in the City of Norwich within Norfolk, England north of the city centre and on the edge of the city's suburbs....

. The village once had its own Thursford railway station

Thursford railway station

Thursford railway station was a station in Norfolk, England on the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway line between Melton Constable and South Lynn. It was closed in 1959 along with the rest of the line. It served the settlement of Thursford...

 which is now closed. It is a proposed stop on the Norfolk Orbital Railway.

Thursford parish church is called St Andrew’s and has some fine examples of Victorian stained glass

Stained glass

The term stained glass can refer to coloured glass as a material or to works produced from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant buildings...

 windows. The church was rebuilt in the early 1860s with money given by the Chadd family who lived in the nearby Thursford Hall.

Thursford Collection

For full article see Thursford Collection

Thursford Collection

The Thursford Collection is a charity trust endowed museum, located in Thursford, Norfolk. Founded by local man, the late George Cushing, its is now known for the scale of collection of steam engines, organs and fairground attractions; and its annual Christmas spectacular show, which draws over...

Thursford is the home of the Thursford Collection, which is an assortment of steam engine

Steam engine

A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separate from the combustion products. Non-combustion heat sources such as solar power, nuclear power or geothermal energy may be...

s and organ

Organ (music)

The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...

s housed in a museum

Museum

A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...

. The collection was founded by the late George Cushing and what began as a hobby turned into one of the world's most important steam and fairground museums. The collection includes a Mighty Wurlitzer

Wurlitzer

The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, usually referred to simply as Wurlitzer, was an American company that produced stringed instruments, woodwinds, brass instruments, theatre organs, band organs, orchestrions, electronic organs, electric pianos and jukeboxes....

 which is the fourth-largest in Europe and has a total of 1,339 pipes. There is also a 19th-century gondola merry-go-round which was built in the Norfolk factory of Frederick Savage. The merry-go-round is decorated with carved heads depicting Queen Victoria and her family, including the German Kaiser Wilhelm II. The collection and museum is also famous for its popular summer and winter shows. The annual Christmas

Christmas

Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...

"Spectaculars" attract coachloads of devotees from around the country and must be booked months in advance.