The village of Tilney St Lawrence lies approximately 6 miles southwest of Kings Lynn to the south of the new A47 bypass. The centre of the village lies around a cross roads made by the former Wisbech to Kings Lynn toll road and the old Terrington to Marshland Smeeth drovers road.
The name Tilney could be derived from Tilne or Tilna meaning river, one such prehistoric river once flowed through the area in which the village now stands, the course of which can at times be traced by ancient silt deposits.
A settlement in this location can be traced back to Roman Times with evidence of a canal in the region of Church road being recorded in the Archaeological Survey Unit Report of 1988.
Tilney St Lawrence is not mentioned in Doomday (1086) but Islington is, the obvious conclusion being that at this time Tilney was the lesser settlement. As Tilney St Lawrence grew in size Tilney cum Islington became the smaller village being incorporated into the parish in 1935.
The fen country pre drainage was one of bulrushes, reed, wild teal, ducks and eels all used to support the population of the area. With the arrival of the drainage workers many were afraid that their livelihood would be lost and sabotaged the banks . However work continued and the resulting reclaimed land changed the old cycle of flooded fen in winter and summer grazing, to arable land growing winter wheat, barley, peas and from the 1920’s onwards sugar beet and rape seed.
The village is a scattered community, which in the past has relied on its agricultural industry for both income and employment. In the past all the family were involved with harvest time, the Board school which was built in the village in 1874 has many entries in its log book bewailing the low attendance before and after these busy times despite the long breaks given for helping on the land. With the passage of time fields have been incorporated, with ever larger machines to work them, the small holder has been replaced by a few large land owners and contract farmers with the fruit industry of apple orchards, plums, pears and strawberries all but disappeared.
One of the famous residents of Tilney St Lawrence was John Aylmer, tutor to Lady Jane, granddaughter of Mary, Henry VIII younger sister.  She was proclaimed Queen by the Duke of Northumberland in an effort to keep the country Protestant. She reigned for only 9 days. Aylmer Hall stood in the field opposite the church and a large mound is the only sign of it’s exsistence, a picture of the later hall can be seen on the CHS web site. John Aylmer was appointed to the Bishopric of London and held this position until his death in 1594.

Islington School:
In 1867 Dr William Punsfer (Vicar of St Mary’s Islington) opened Islington College in part of the Rectory catering for around 50 pupils, some of whom where to be boarders. At this time the School in Tilney Cum Islinton was already catering for local school children and was thriving. Therefore it would appear that the College was for students requireing advanced education or for private pupils from the more wealthy in the population, who could pay for a more advanced education.

Dr Punsfer also built a corrugated iron Chapel within the grounds of the Vicarage to save parishoners the long journey to St Mary’s. The Coronation hall was built at the personal expense of the Dr and was willed to the village, together with the two attached cottages and passed to the parish on his death in 1908.

St Lawrence Church:
Between 1225 and 1250 Cannons from the Premonsrtatension Abbey at West Dereham built a Chapel of Ease to serve the people of the village, but, this was still in the ecclesiatical parish of Tilney All Saints. The Church for most of it’s history has been served by the Priest from Tilney All Saints, however, for brief periods there has been a resident Priest at St Lawrence and it is most likely that a Priest lived at Tilney Fen End in the 15th century, the Churwardens accounts show rent paid for land and a dwelling at Broughtons Manor for the Priest. The Revd Robert Frederick Cory, a Curate, lived near the Church at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries.

The tower was added in the 14th century, at about this time Edward 111 granted a patent to appropriate the Rectory of Tilney to Pembroke College, Cambridge. By gift of the founder, the Countess of Pembroke. The Masters and Fellows are still the Rectors and share with Crown the appointment of the Vicar.
The 15th century saw the building of a chapel of two bays on the north side of the chancel, this is now used as the vestry and sacristy, the porch was also added at about this time.

The Church fell into bad repair and was restored in the 19th century, thanks to the generous gift of Mrs Mary Mann. The work was carried out in 1846 and included the re-building of the chancel, the addition of the north and south transepts, a complete new roof in the arch-brace style ( the previous roof was thatched), the stained glass was placed in the east window and all of the pews renewed. During this restoration a lead covered wooden spire was added to the tower, in 1898 it was struck by lightning and was finally removed in 1941 when it was found to be unsafe. The tower contains one bell, bearing the inscription John Draper made me 1625.

The Church has a very good set of registers for birth, deaths and marriages dating back to 1653

In the churchyard is the entrance to a tunnel leading to the original Aylmer Hall some distance from the Church, only a few feet of the tunnel remains before the passage is blocked by fallen brickwork.

The organ was purchased in 1864 at a cost of £115.00 and was previously installed in Waltham Abbey. In the third quarter of the 20th century the Church again fell into a bad state of repair, rescue came in 1973 with a large bequest from Elizabeth Elsie Oldroyd for the upkeep of the fabric of st Lawrence Church. Her generosity has allowed restoration to take place and to maintain the building in good order.

In December 1979 the Privy Council granted Parish status to Tilney St Lawrence from the 1st January 1980 therefore seperating St Lawrence from All Saints for the first time in it’s history, the first Vicar was the Revd Robert Charles Wright. To commemorate the occasion, parishioners worked a set of kneelers, the project was funded by individual donations and fund raising activities.

Methodist Chapel: (TSL)
The foundation stone for the Methodist Chapel in Magdalen Road on 19th April 1897 and remained a place of worship until closure on the 22nd October 1974, the Chapel originally had iron railings on the front wall, these were removed during WW2 to go towards the war effort. After closure, the Officers and congregation transferred to Terrington St John Chapel for their worship.

Methodist Chapel: (Tilney Fen End)
This Chapel pre – dates Tilney St Lawrence by 27 years, having opened in 1870 and remained a place worship until 1997, at this time the congregation transferred to Marshland Smeeth. Marshland Smeeth Chapel in turn closed to make way for a new building in Smeeth road. Tilney Fen End Chapel is now a private dwelling.

Public houses:
Tilney parish is said to have had eight Public houses, six of which are in living memory, only two now remain. The Buck standing on the cross roads in the village centre (1845) and the Coach and Horses on the old A47 (1838). The Victory Inn stood close to the Buck, in Magdalen road (1892 – 1960, the Rising Sun stood at the King’s Lynn end of new road (1836 – 1854), the Dray and Horses stood in St Johns road, Old Hall Mews now stands on part of the site.

In Tilney Cum Islington stood the Lords Bridge Inn formerly known as the Fishmongers Arms, this was situated on the left just before reaching the first bridge (1836 – 1951), a bungalow now occupies the site. The Fox and Goose stood on Islinton High road (1836 – 1966).

Tilney Fen End boasted two Pubs on it’s short stretch of road. The Plough was the first one reached from St Lawrence (1845 – 1965) followed by the New Inn just before the Chapel (1925 – 1952).

Post office and shops:
In the early 1900’s the Post office was in School Road, the Post Master was George Thomas Bennett who aslo traded as Grocer, Baker, Boot and Shoe Warehouseman.

The Post office and Grocery part of the business transferred to his son Tom Henry Bennett in 1908 and continued until approximately 1922.

The next Post Master was Robert William Bensley and the office was to the left of the Methodist Chapel in Hills Road (now known as Magdalen Road). At this time Tom Bennett became Assistant Overseer forn the Post Office.

The Post Office next returned to School Road where the Post Master was Frank Collins, it remained in School Road until the outbreak of the second world war, at this time it was again moved to Hills Road, but this time to Firths Grocery shop where Mrs Ethel Firth was Post Mistress. The current Post Office was purpose built in 1955 and in 1958 was one of the most modern post office’s in Norfolk. Mrs Firth was still the Post Mistress and was succeded by her daughter Mrs Jean Holland and subsequently by her Grand daughter Mrs Linda Petts the current Post Mistress.

Tilney St Lawrence had three shops for most of the 1900’s, the shop situated in School Road was a Grocer and Draper and sold virtually everything you could need from a reel of cotton to a gallon of parafin for your lamp or a bottle of sherry from the barrel (take your own bottle of course). The owner also had a travelling shop and served customers in the remote Fen area’s, the van would leave early in the morning and would be out all day.

The Corner shop, the only one now left in the Village, sold mostly newspapers, sweets, cigarettes and tobacco. After WW2 fizzy drinks were made and sold on the premises. In earlier times the premises had been a Butchers and the building at the back was previously a Blacksmiths.

The Grocers shop in Hills Road (now Magdalen Road) also had a Mobile shop and also served the outlying Fenland area’s and as mentioned earlier also was home to the Post office.

In the 1940’s a small wooden shop was situated at No 3 Council house in St Johns Road selling sweets, cigarettes , fruit and various other bits and pieces.