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| Primary Roads to Thornbury ![]() Map for walking in central Thornbury
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Thornbury is an historic old town whose origins can be traced back to the 10th Century. The town was granted Borough status in 1252 by Richard de Clare, Earl of Gloucestershire and Lord of the Manor of Thornbury. Thornbury became the market centre for the region and has developed into a thriving community of some 15,000 with recognisable medieval features around the High Street/Castle Street Conservation Area and convenient local shopping, surrounded by leafy estates of modern housing.A well signposted 3 mile heritage trail may be walked in a couple of hours, a leaflet available from the Tourist Office explains the features of the route and amplifies the historical information available at each key site. Thornbury Castle, situated next to St Mary's Parish Church, is now
a luxury private hotel. It was built as a fortified manor house for Edward
Stafford 3rd Duke of Buckingham; work commenced in 1511. The Duke's lands
were confiscated in 1521 after he was found guilty of treason and executed.
Henry VIII retained the Castle for 33 years and stayed there with Anne
Boleyn for 10 days in 1535 and Mary Tudor lived in the Castle for some
years before becoming Queen.
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