Thorpe-le-Soken

Thorpe-le-Soken is a village and civil parish in the Tendring district of Essex, England located east of Colchester, west of Walton-on-the-Naze, Frinton-on-Sea and north of Clacton-on-Sea.

Thorpe-le-Soken
Thorpe-le-Soken Location within Essex
Population	1,961 (2011)^[1]
OS grid reference	TM178223
District	Tendring
Shire county	Essex
Region	East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Clacton-on-Sea
Postcode district	CO16
Police	Essex
Fire	Essex
Ambulance	East of England
UK Parliament	Clacton
List of places UK England Essex 51°51′25″N 1°09′50″E / 51.857°N 1.164°E / 51.857; 1.164Coordinates: 51°51′25″N 1°09′50″E / 51.857°N 1.164°E / 51.857; 1.164

History

Since 2002, archaeological investigations ahead of construction work, on sites near to cropmarks, has uncovered traces of Palaeolithic (early Clactonian 424,000-400,000 BC), Mesolithic, early Neolithic and Roman rural settlements. ^[2] Thorpe-le-Soken's contiguous history can be traced back to Saxon times.^[3] In c970, King Æthelstan confirmed the grant of Eduluesnaesa – combined estate of Kirby, Thorpe and Walton – to St Paul’s. Soken meaning a jurisdiction ^[4] with separate taxation and managerial responsibilities.

There has been a manor house at Thorpe since about 1150. The old manor house, Thorpe Hall, was owned by the Leake family, and rebuilt in the 1820s by the wealthy lawyer J.M. Leake (d. 1862). It was later leased by Frederic Foaker, owner of Sneating Hall at Kirby-le-Soken. Thorpe Hall was the home of Viscount Byng of Vimy (Governor General of Canada 1921–6), and his wife Evelyn Byng, Viscountess Byng of Vimy, who relandscaped the gardens.^[5]

Between 1690 and 1720 Thorpe housed a community of several dozen Huguenot refugees fleeing persecution in France, who are thought to have stayed at the large house still called Comarques. The house is now home to the Adams family. (Source: Huguenot Society records.) This was also the home of the famous Midlands author Arnold Bennett just before and during the First World War. (Source: contemporary issues of Essex County Standard, Arnold Bennett's Correspondence.)

The local church, St Michael's, was shown in series 2 episode 4 of the BBC's Who Do You Think You Are?, where comedian Julian Clary traced a family member to the church.^[6]

Facilities

Thorpe-le-Soken has Rolph CofE Primary School in the High Street, and the Thorpe Campus of Tendring Technology College (Years 7, 8 and 9) in Landermere Road. The village is served by Thorpe-le-Soken railway station. The village used to have a post office, but this was closed in a round of government cuts.^[7] The village hosts several shops, pubs and eateries.^[8]

Notable residents

• Field Marshal Lord Byng of Vimy GCB GCMG MVO (1862–1935), an officer who served with distinction during World War I and as Governor General of Canada, lived in Thorpe-le-Soken during his retirement^[9] and died at the now demolished Thorpe Hall.^[10] He is buried at the 11th-century parish church of St. Leonard's in Beaumont-cum-Moze.^[11]
• Sir William Gull (1816 – 1890), Royal physician, and suggested as a suspect in the Jack the Ripper murders, is buried in St Michael's churchyard.^[12]
• Arnold Bennett (1867 – 1931), novelist and playwright
• Nigel Henderson (artist) (1 April 1917 – 15 May 1985), artist and photographer.
• Sir Eduardo Luigi Paolozzi (7 March 1924 – 22 April 2005), sculptor and artist

References

1. "Civil Parish population 2011". Retrieved 24 September 2015.
2. { Colchester Archaeological Trust (2002) GL1042_SEA64000_Thorpe Hall p.8, 17-20; ASE (2017) ASE Report No: 2017476 Thorpe Maltings p3, 7-8}
3. Shore, Thomas William (1906), Origin of the Anglo-Saxon Race - A Study of the Settlement of England and the Tribal Origin of the Old English People (1st ed.), London, p. 279
4. { Dr James Kemble Essex Place-names : Places Streets and people (2007, Historical Publications p.86, 88)}
5. "LANDOWNERSHIP: THORPE-LE-SOKEN" (PDF). Victoria County History.
6. "Thorpe le Soken: Comic Julian films new TV series at Essex church". Thurrock Gazette. 23 August 2005. Retrieved 10 October 2016.
7. "Post Office® Network Change Programme. Official site". www.postoffice.co.uk. Archived from the original on 7 August 2011. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
8. "Frinton on Sea, Tendring, Essex, UK - seaside town on the east coast of England". Frinton-on-Sea: Frinton.org. Retrieved 9 April 2012.
9. "Viewing Page 366 of Issue 33348". London-gazette.co.uk. 17 January 1928. Retrieved 9 April 2012.
10. (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 February 2012. Retrieved 9 April 2012.
11. "The United Benefice of Tendring, Little Bentley and Beaumont-cum-Moze". Archived from the original on 7 July 2013. Retrieved 19 May 2013.
12. Eminent persons: Biographies, reprinted from the Times. Vol. 1-6. D. Macmillan. 1893. Retrieved 4 June 2010.

External links

  Media related to Thorpe-le-Soken at Wikimedia Commons