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| Address: |
White Hart Street, Thetford,
Norfolk IP24 1AA |
| Tel: |
01824 752 599 |
Maharaja Duleep Singh, born in Punjab,
in the year of his father's death in 1839, was bought to England
in 1854. He lived his adult life on the Elvedon Hall Estate in Suffolk,
where he lived the life of an English country squire. He was recognised
as the second best shot in the country.
The Elvedon Hall Estate was modified to a slightly more eastern
style under the eye of Duleep Singh. After his death in 1893 the
estate was sold to the Earl of Iveagh, and is currently not open
to the public. His grave is located in the churchyard in the grounds
of the Estate - this is open to public view. Also in the graveyard
are the graves of Bamba Muller Dhuleep Singh (his first wife) and
Prince Albert Dhuleep Singh (one of their son's).
Their other two sons are buried in Blo' Norton, Thetford, in the
graveyard of the church there. In the Blo' Norton woods the ruins
of a small building can be seen, which according to local legend
was a temple built by Maharaja Duleep Singh.
Some of the artifacts bought from Punjab to England by Duleep Singh
and by Sir John Login, his guardian, are located in the museum in
Thetford.
Princess Bamba Duleep Singh, the eldest daughter, acquired much
of Dhuleep Singh's collection, which was then given to the Lahore
Museum in Pakistan in 1957 after her death. Some items were auctioned
to pay death duties.
Thetford Ancient House Museum
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This magnificent timber framed Tudor merchant's
house was built about1490, 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 an 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.
Or you might marvel at the wealth of the Thetford
Treasure, a hoard of late Roman jewellery and spoons and one of
the area’s most dramatic finds of recent years. The Ancient
House Museum displays a selection of replicas of the Treasure made
by Peter Shorer, copied from the originals at the British Museum.
And there are displays about about Thetford’s
most famous son, Thomas Paine, the remarkable political writer and
radical thinkers of the eighteenth century, who played an important
role in the American War of Independence.
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