Great and Little Thurlow (7 carucates) were held by Edith, a free woman, in the time of Edward the Confessor; the manor including arable land, meadow and woodland, and supporting pigs, cattle, sheep and goats. It contained a church with 32 acres of land. In 1086 it had passed to the king. A smaller holding of 95 acres was in the hands of nine free men in 1086, the soke belonging to St Edmund's Abbey. Another carucate was held by 10 free men from Richard fitzGilbert; this also including a church with 29 acres, and finally Widard held 25 acres, also from Richard fitzGilbert, formerly held by two sokemen of Eadgifu. Little Thurlow is assumed to be Richard fitzGilbert's holding.
At the Dissolution, Little Thurlow was held by the Abbot of Bury St Edmund's. It had passed to Sir Stephen Soame by 1582, and the family continued to live at the hall until the line failed in 1889. In this period, the two manors of Great and Little Thurlow effectively became one, under Soame's lordship. The manor then passed to the Soame Jenyns (a collateral line), who sold the estate to Charles Foster Ryder, the father of Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (1923-2000). It is now part of the Vestey estate.
Stourhead benefice, i.e. Barnardiston, Great and Little Bradley, Great and Little Thurlow, Great and Little Wratting and Kedington.