Ancient House Museum of Thetford Life

Set in a beautiful Tudor house with 21st century displays, this museum tells the remarkable story of Thetford and the Brecks. Discover rich permanent collections alongside changing exhibitions, films and interactive activities. This magnificent timber framed Tudor merchant's house was built about 1490, with an extension added about 1590. The house is jettied and timber-framed, using oak, with wattle and daub in-fill with a fine carved ceiling and fireplace timbers. Here you can discover Thetford's connection with a remarkable Indian Prince, the Maharajah Duleep Singh. The museum, founded by Prince Frederick Duleep Singh, the Maharajah's second son, displays a range of original family photographs and items from the family's collections.

Discover the lives of the people who lived not only in Thetford but in the Ancient House itself. New for 2021, marvel at the wealth of the Thetford Treasure! This hoard of late Roman jewellery and spoons is one of the area's most dramatic finds of recent years and is home on loan from the British Museum until January 2022. Find out about Thetford's most famous son, Thomas Paine, the remarkable political writer and radical thinker of the eighteenth century, who played an important role in the American War of Independence.