Thetford is a hamlet

Hamlet (place)

A hamlet is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community. Historically, when a hamlet became large enough to justify building a church, it was then classified as a village...

 and farm in the civil parish

Civil parish

In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...

 of Baston in the South Kesteven

South Kesteven

South Kesteven is a local government district in Lincolnshire, England, forming part of the traditional Kesteven division of the county. It covers Grantham, Stamford, Bourne and Market Deeping.-History:...

 district of Lincolnshire

Lincolnshire

Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...

, England. Now shrunken to a single farmhouse and associated outbuildings, this was once a manor of Spalding Priory

Spalding Priory

Spalding Priory was a small Benedictine house in the town of Spalding, Lincolnshire. It was founded as a cell of Croyland Abbey, in 1052, by Leofric, Earl of Mercia and his wife, Godiva, Countess of Leicester. It was supported by Leofric's eldest son...

 with its own Chapel. There are records of ministers being installed in 1529 and 1539

The present house and barn are grade II listed buildings.

Thetford lies north of of the village of Baston

Baston

Baston is a parish on the edge of The Fens and in the administrative district of South Kesteven, Lincolnshire, England. Like most fen-edge parishes, it was laid out more than a thousand years ago, in an elongated form, to afford the produce from a variety of habitats for the villagers...

 and to the south of the River Glen

River Glen, Lincolnshire

The River Glen is a river in Lincolnshire, England with a short stretch passing through Rutland near Essendine.The river's name appears to derive from a Brythonic Celtic language but there is a strong early English connection.-Naming:...

.It is on the line of the Car Dyke

Car Dyke

The Car Dyke was, and to large extent still is, an eighty-five mile long ditch which runs along the western edge of the Fens in eastern England. It is generally accepted as being of Roman age and, for many centuries, to have been taken as marking the western edge of the Fens...

 a ditch or catchwater drain

Catchwater drain

A catchwater drain is a land drain, a ditch cut across the fall of the land, typically just above the level of low-lying, level ground such as The Fens of eastern England, where some land, tens of kilometres from the sea is at about sea level...

 dating to the time of the Roman occupation

Roman Britain

Roman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire from AD 43 until ca. AD 410.The Romans referred to the imperial province as Britannia, which eventually comprised all of the island of Great Britain south of the fluid frontier with Caledonia...

 that is regarded as the western boundary of The Fens

The Fens

The Fens, also known as the , are a naturally marshy region in eastern England. Most of the fens were drained several centuries ago, resulting in a flat, damp, low-lying agricultural region....

. The A15 road, that crosses the Glen at Kate's Bridge

Kate's Bridge

Kate's Bridge is a landmark settlement on the A15 road, in the parish of Thurlby, about south of Bourne, Lincolnshire, England. Its size is indicated by the fact that the road signs announcing it at its two ends are on the same pole....

runs less than a mile west of Thetford.