NHER 5908 (Monument record) - Site of St Margaret's Church and Leper Hospital, Thetford

Church of St Margaret.
St Margaret's church has pre-Conquest origins and appears in the Domesday Book as a daughter church to Great St Mary's (S1). By the 14th century the parish of St Margaret had presumably become depopulated and was anexed to the neighbouring parish of Little St Mary's (NHER 5909). By this time the church itself had become a chapel to the Leper hospital (S2) and it is referred to as the Leper Hospital of St Margaret as early as 1304. The hospital and chapel were dissolved in 1552, when the site passed to Sir Richard Fulmerston (S2).
In the early 19th century, Blomefield describes standing walls set on a piece of raised ground surrounded by many large stones (S2), but currently no remains of the church are visible. Blomefield notes that St Margaret's church was located on the left hand side of Elden Road, close by the city ditch (S3). Thomas Martin (S4) makes reference to a 1333 will describing a piece of land between the road from Briggegat to Elvedon (London Road) and a path from St Mary's to St Margaret's. Both of these descriptions appear to agree with the location which appears on Orndance Survey maps which is visible as a mound in London Road cemetery.
H. Hamilton (NLA), 06 August 2008.