page_title: Thetford
section_title: Sport
hierarchical_section_title: Thetford / Sport
caption_attribution_description: English: Thetford Golf Course The 18th green and 464 yards fairway.
context_page_description: Thetford is a market town and civil parish in the Breckland district of Norfolk, England. It is on the A11 road between Norwich and London, just east of Thetford Forest. The civil parish, covering an area of 29.55 km², has a population of 24,340.
  There has been a settlement at Thetford since the Iron Age, and parts of the town predate the Norman Conquest; Thetford Castle was established shortly thereafter. Roger Bigod founded the Cluniac Priory of St Mary in 1104, which became the largest and most important religious institution in Thetford. The town was badly hit by the dissolution of the monasteries, including the castle's destruction, but was rebuilt in 1574 when Elizabeth I established a town charter. After World War II, Thetford became an "overspill town", taking people from London, as a result of which its population increased substantially. Thetford was the headquarters of Tulip International, large-scale manufacturers of bacon, beef and pork until its closure in 2010.
  Thetford railway station is served by the Breckland line and is one of the best surviving pieces of 19th century railway architecture in East Anglia.
context_section_description: The local football club, Thetford Town F.C., plays in the Eastern Counties Football League. Thetford Rugby Union Football Club is based on the Mundford Road just outside Thetford, with its first team playing in the Greene King IPA Eastern Counties 1 league.
  A swimming team called the Thetford Dolphins is based at Breckland Leisure Centre's Waterworld swimming pools. World champion triathlete Chrissie Wellington is a former member of this swimming club.
  Thetford Golf Club, to the northwest of the town in Thetford Forest Park, was established in 1912 with a course originally designed by Charles H. Mayo, with later alterations by James Braid and Philip Mackenzie Ross. The construction of the second Thetford bypass resulted in five of the course holes being lost and having to be re-fashioned by Cameron Sinclair and Donald Steel.
caption: Thetford Golf Club
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