Francis Throckmorton of Sir Francis Walsingham, Elizabeth I's spymaster. A search of his house produced incriminating evidence and, after torture on the rack, Throckmorton confessed his involvement in a plot to overthrow the Queen and restore the Catholic Church in England. An invasion led by Henry I, Duke of Guise, would have been coupled with an orchestrated uprising of Catholics within the country. Although Throckmorton later retracted his confession, he was convicted of high treason and executed in 1584. Sir Francis Throckmorton is featured in the film "", where he is played by Steven Robertson. In the film, he is shown asking
Walsingham have a further presence at the Church of the Holy Transfiguration, Great Walsingham, and also at the former Little Walsingham railway station which has been converted into the Russian Orthodox church of St Seraphim. Walsingham used to be connected to the railway network by the Norwich via Fakenham, Dereham and Wymondham route, but this was axed during the Beeching era in the late 1960s, in stages from 1964 to 1969. In 1979 work began on constructing a gauge heritage railway on the old track bed to Wells. The line re-opened in 1982 and now operates with a fleet of steam