Thingoe Rural District
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English Template:Infobox historic subdivision Thingoe Rural District was a rural district in the county of West Suffolk, England between 1894 and 1974. It was named after the ancient Hundred of Thingoe ("thing-hoe" – "assembly-mound") and administered from Bury St Edmunds, which it surrounded.
History
The district had its origins in the Thingoe Poor Law Union, which had been created in 1836 under the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834. The 1834 Act transferred responsibilities under the poor laws from individual parishes to unions of many parishes, able to fund a large central workhouse for the area. The Thingoe union covered numerous parishes surrounding Bury St Edmunds, but did not include the town itself, which already ran its own workhouse under a local act of parliament from 1747 and so was exempted from being included in a poor law union under the 1834 Act. Whilst the Thingoe union did not include Bury St Edmunds, the board of guardians for the union chose to build the Thingoe Union Workhouse there as a central and accessible location for all the parishes in the Thingoe union; the workhouse was built on Mill Lane in 1836.<ref name=Higginbotham/> The Thingoe union took its name from the ancient hundred, which had covered some of the area.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 1872 sanitary districts were established, giving public health and local government responsibilities for rural areas to the existing boards of guardians of poor law unions. Rural sanitary districts were converted into rural districts with elected councils under the Local Government Act 1894.<ref name=VoB/>
On 1 April 1935 the parish of Depden was transferred to the Clare Rural District. On the same date the district was enlarged by the transfer of the civil parishes of Barnham, Barningham, Coney Weston, Euston, Fakenham Magna, Hepworth, Honington, Hopton, Knettishall, Market Weston, Sapiston, and Thelnetham from the disbanded Brandon Rural District.<ref name=VoB>Template:Cite web</ref>
The district was abolished in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972. The area became part of the borough of St Edmundsbury, which in turn became part of West Suffolk district in 2019.
Parishes
At the time of its dissolution it consisted of the following 58 parishes. Template:Columns-list
Statistics
| Year | Area<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | Population <ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
Density (pop/ha) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| acres | ha | |||
| 1911 | 83,998 | 33,993 | 14,439 | 0.42 |
| 1921 | 13,397 | 0.39 | ||
| 1931 | 12,878 | 0.38 | ||
| 1951 | 106,739 | 43,196 | 17,266 | 0.40 |
| 1961 | 106,738 | 20,021 | 0.46 | |
Premises
Throughout its existence, the council was based outside its administrative area, in the neighbouring town of Bury St Edmunds, which the district encircled. In the early years, the council met at the board room at the Thingoe Union Workhouse on Mill Lane, reflecting the district's origins in the Thingoe poor law union.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=Higginbotham>Template:Cite web</ref> By the 1950s the council was based at 1 Northgate Street, remaining there until the council's abolition in 1974.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref>
References
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