The great wealth inherited to him by his father enabled him to amass large tracts of arable land, which he then enclosed, turning out the landless peasants who had hereto lived there. It also meant a serious threat against their livelihood, the common ground previously having been available to grazing for the livestock of everyone.[1][2]The Norfolk Heritage writes about one of these villages, Holt:
This is the site of the medieval village of Holt, which disappeared when the landlord, the notorious Thomas Thursby, enclosed the land and converted it to pasture for his sheep. Holt was the only Norfolk village recorded in the Commission of Inquiry in 1517 as being totally depopulated in this way.[3]
All Saints Church, Ashwicken, Leziate & Bawsey in the Diocese of Norwich, concurs: "The village was demolished when the landlord, the notorious Thomas Thursby, enclosed the land and converted it to pasture for his sheep. Holt was the only Norfolk village recorded in the Commission of Inquiry in 1517 as being totally depopulated in this way."[4] His dealings were part of an inquest which took place in 1517,[5] he was sued in the Court of Requests by the inhabitants of Middleton in 1540,[6] and a case was made against him in 1549, years after was he was long dead, for enclosing the salt fen that had always been common to Middleton, but also used by Runcton, West Winch, Setchey and Hardwick.[1]
K.J. Allison writes in The Sheep-Corn Husbandry of Norfolk in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries that the Norfolk landlords committed manifold abuses of the foldcourse system. And that those abuses were frequently accompanied by the acquisition of houses, landholdings, and commons, and how 'large estates were built up, and villages were depopulated.' K.J. Allison notes that, 'There is a considerable body of evidence to support the poor petitioners' allegations'. K.J. Allison makes a special note of 'the tenants of the notorious Thomas Thursby' and describes how he had converted their holdings to sheep pasture, evicted them from their dwellings, deprived them of their commons, and pulled down their houses in numerous villages, and also mentions the lost villages, "including four that are now deserted."[7]
Ashwicken
Before 31 May 1527 Thomas Thursby bought the manor of Ashwicken.[8] Ashwicken had previously belonged to another branch of the Thursby family, the grandson of his uncle Robert Thursby, his cousin also named Thomas Thursby (1498[1]–1532[9]).[2] This other branch migrated to Essex.[10]
Mintlyn, Geyton Thorp, Gayton, Congham and Rydon
He inherited Mintlyn, Geyton Thorp, Gayton, Congham and Rydon from his father.[11] In a tax assessment of 1524 Thomas Thursby, Esq. is listed as the wealthiest landowner in Gayton. There is a reference in the record of a lawsuit in the Court of Star Chamber during the reign of Henry VIII to Thomas Thursby's ‘mansion place’ in Gayton.[12] The manors of Rustons and Redehall, moiety of manor of Bawdsey and all possessions in Gayton, Gaytonthorpe, Congham, Rydon, Bawsey, Walton and Rysing was settled on his wife-to-be in 1527.[13] The manor of Rysyng was in the hands of the Crown as part of the duchy of Cornwall, but had been let in 1516 for twenty-one years to Thomas Thursby, of Bishop's Lynne, for 50/.[14]
The Wrest Part Portrait – Recently identified as Mary Neville Fiennes, Lady DacreEdmund (d.1547), m. Ursula (d.1567[18]),[19] daughter of Sir Edward Beynton of the Vyse in Wiltshire, Knight,[20] who remarried to Erasmus Spelman,[19] and had John Spilman, Henry Spelman, Thomas Spelman, Bridget, Ele, Alice and Dorothy.[20] Children of Edmund Thursby and Ursula Beynton:[19]
Francis Thursby[1] of Congham,[21] under 20 in 1543,[1] mentioned in his brother Edmund's will dated 20 December 1547,[8] the third husband of Mary Neville Fiennes, Lady Dacre, with whom he had six children.[21][22][23] This Thursby family owned property in Congham.[24] Mary Neville Fiennes, Lady Dacre is the sitter in two famous portraits previously misidentified, one by Hans Eworth.[21] Her portrait still hangs in Parliament.[25]
Mary, married Geoffrey Cobbs[2] (d.1544[26]), the son of William Cobb of Gayton, the grandson of William Cobb of Sandringham and the daughter and heiress of Ralph Gayton, and the great grandson of William Cobb of Sandringham in Norfolk, and Margaret, the daughter of Sir John le Buttler, knight,[2][26] and had: Thomas Cobbs (b.1539[26]), eldest son and heir, William Cobbs, Ann and Dowsabell[26]
^ ab"Norfolk Record Office - NROCAT: on-line catalogue". nrocat.norfolk.gov.uk. Retrieved 2020-10-05. CatalogueRef: BL/O/X/12. Title: Copy of covenant for a marriage settlement on Ann Knyvett, one of the Queen's gentlewomen and one of the daughters of Sir Thomas Knyvett deceased, and Thomas Thuresby [Thoresby] of Asshewykyne, esq., for conveyance by said Thomas Thuresby to Sir Robert Dymook [the King's champion], chancellor to Queen Katherine, Sir Philip Tylney, Gryffyth Richards, Christopher Jenny, John Scott, Charles Bulkley, Sir John Cressener, William Conningesby, Thomas Guybon senior, Francis Mounfforde, John Fyncham of Fyncham, esq., and Thomas Guybon, son and heir of above Thomas, of manors of Rustons and Redehall, moiety of manor of Bawdsey and all possessions in Gayton, Gaytonthorpe, Congham, Rydon, Bawsey, Walton and Rysing. Date: 31 May 1527. Level: Piece. Repository: Norfolk Record Office. Extent: 1 roll{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
^Harleian Society (1886). The Publications of the Harleian Society. Robarts - University of Toronto. London : The Society. 1543-4 [...] Jan. 26 Henry Spylman & Anne Thursby, of diocese of Norwich.
