Ashby St Mary
Ashby St Mary is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The civil parish has an area of and in the 2001 census had a population of 297 in 115 households, the population increasing to 316 in 120 households at the 2011 Census. For the purposes of local government, the parish falls within the district of South Norfolk.
The village is situated south-east of Norwich and north of Thurton, with Claxton, Hellington and Carleton St Peter all lying a similar distance away. The church has a high tower, a long, low nave, and an impressive Norman door. A tombstone in the graveyard depicts a lady with geese; this much-photographed carving is repeated on the village sign, which was commissioned in 2000 to celebrate the millennium. It also depicts a windmill which stood in the village until at least 1916.
The village was recorded in the Domesday Book. Thomas de Cottingham, a royal clerk who later became Master of the Rolls in Ireland was appointed rector of Ashby in 1349: he was notorious for pluralism.
The Church was used in October 2010 by Music composer Jamie Robertson who along with the Poringland Singers Choir recorded an incidental soundtrack to the Big Finish Productions story Doctor Who Relative Dimensions.
