Try GOLD - Free
A timber-framed Tardis
BBC History Magazine
|February 2022
Incongruously sandwiched between shops and pubs in a Norfolk market town stands a Tudor building crammed with stories spanning more than two millennia of local history. PRIYA ATWAL explores Ancient House Museum of Thetford Life
Midway between the tourist hotspots of Cambridge and Norwich lies the a You might be tempted to drive past this unassuming little town, but I'd strongly encourage you to stop and visit. Stroll along Whitehart Street and, amid the shops and businesses, look for a beautiful timber-framed building: Ancient House, home to Thetford's wonderful local museum.
Stepping inside, you really feel as if you're entering a Tardis. Constructed of oak, wattle and daub, Ancient House is a rare survivor from the Tudor period. Built around 1500, likely for a wealthy merchant, it was home to a succession of shopkeepers and tradespeople into the early 20th century. Today, the building houses the Museum of Thetford Life, with each room exploring a different aspect of the town's past. Exhibits also cover its connections to national history, the British empire and the wider world.
This story is from the February 2022 edition of BBC History Magazine.
Subscribe to Magzter GOLD to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 10,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
MORE STORIES FROM BBC History Magazine
BBC History UK
The stories we tell
LIZANNE HENDERSON enjoys a new history of folklore through the ages that explores some lesser-known avenues
1 mins
November 2025
BBC History UK
"Africa exerted a profound influence on cultures of resistance to slavery, yet its role is often overlooked"
SUDHIR HAZAREESINGH speaks to Danny Bird about how enslaved people, who needed no lessons in freedom from white abolitionists, organised themselves to fight their oppressors
9 mins
November 2025
BBC History UK
The first British curry
ELEANOR BARNETT prepares a dish with Indian influences that was designed to appeal to Georgian English tastes
2 mins
November 2025
BBC History UK
Emperor Jahangir and Shah Abbas literally bestride the world like colossi
WATCHING THE RECENT SPECTACLE OF THOSE latter-day emperors President Xi of China and India's Narendra Modi hugging each other at the summit in Tianjin, my mind cast back to an earlier image of a pan-Asian summit.
3 mins
November 2025
BBC History UK
THE SLIPPERY TRUTH OF THE DREYFUS AFFAIR
The wrongful conviction for treason of a Jewish army captain in France in the late 19th century not only tore the country apart, but also, as Mike Rapport reveals, sparked a flood of ‘fake news’ that has echoes in our own turbulent times.
10 mins
November 2025
BBC History UK
Spectral beasts and hounds from hell
From infernal black dogs attacking churches to ravening, red-eyed brutes on remote roads, Britain has long been haunted by fearsome canine phantoms.
8 mins
November 2025
BBC History UK
Of ruins and revenants
Across Britain, hundreds of once-thriving medieval settlements were abandoned for reasons ranging from disease to economic collapse.
2 mins
November 2025
BBC History UK
Why are we so hung up with historical dates?
From 1066 to 1918, our obsession with battles, elections and even voyages of discovery risks distorting a true understanding of the past
11 mins
November 2025
BBC History UK
The physicist as hero
JIMENA CANALES argues that a new study of Einstein misses some of the complexity in his story
2 mins
November 2025
BBC History UK
Different class
MILES TAYLOR is absorbed by a study of how Britain's hereditary peers have negotiated changing times
2 mins
November 2025
Translate
Change font size