Thurgarton can be explored on a trip with two distinct focuses: the Church of St Peter, the former Augustinian priory and archaeological finds tell the story of the village; the Walter Hilton Way offers a clearly described day route to Southwell Minster. When planning, it helps to consider whether you are mainly interested in cultural history or want to make the one-day walk the focus. This lets you base your accommodation search on a specific reason for your trip.
Church, priory and archaeological traces
The Church of St Peter in Thurgarton is a Grade I listed building. Its surviving features include three 15th-century choir stalls with carved misericords. These offer two different ways to understand the site: the designation identifies the church as a protected building, while the number, age and carving of the stalls describe a specific detail of its furnishings. You can therefore explore the church both through the building itself and through a particular item of its furnishings.
The Augustinian Priory of St Peter in Thurgarton was founded around 1119–1139 and dissolved in 1538. This period provides a clear historical framework for the priory’s story. As a surviving architectural feature, the substructure of the medieval west cloister remains; it serves as the cellar of the adjoining house. The history of the priory and a specifically described part of its architecture can thus be considered side by side, without reducing the monastic site to a single building.
Castle Hill adds archaeological traces to the picture. Excavations in the 1950s uncovered two small timber-built churches there. Castle Hill is also the site of a medieval burial ground discovered during excavations from 1951 to 1955. The churches and burial ground offer different perspectives on the site’s past: religious buildings on the one hand, and archaeological evidence of burials on the other. The dates help put these finds in context without conflating them into a single discovery.
Getting to know the Walter Hilton Way on foot
The Walter Hilton Way is a five-mile, one-day route from Thurgarton Priory to Southwell Minster. In 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 turn leads onto a public bridleway. The route therefore includes both a section through the village and the continuation along the bridleway.
Along the way, the route crosses a small bridge over a “dumble” — the local term for a deeply incised stream. The word helps explain a specific landscape feature along the route. The two key details are useful for different aspects of planning the day: the five miles indicate the distance, while the one-day format identifies it as a day walk. Check the latest route guidance before setting out, as conditions on the path may change.
Plan your journey and overnight stay
Train services via the Nottingham–Newark line vary. Allow for an additional half-mile walk along Station Road to the village centre. When planning, take both the train connection and this walk into account, and check the timetable before departure. If you are including the Walter Hilton Way, also consider the latest route conditions.
For your overnight stay, you can use the two different reasons for travelling as a guide: the Church of St Peter, the priory and the finds on Castle Hill form the cultural and historical focus; the Walter Hilton Way adds a one-day walk to Southwell Minster. Decide which theme is most important to your stay, and plan your travel dates and journey accordingly. This makes Thurgarton more than just a search term for accommodation: it is a specific destination with clear themes to explore.
Discover more destinations: Ollerton, Whatton, Clayworth, Underwood, Hucknall, Torworth, Normanton on Trent, Winthorpe
See the wider travel overview: Nottinghamshire.
