Thorney, United Kingdom

Much of the village was built at the command of the Dukes of Bedford, who wished to have a healthy place in which their estate workers could live. In the mid-19th century many buildings were added to the designs of the architect S.S. Teulon, himself a descendant of Huguenots.

The 7th Duke of Bedford's model agricultural village included a modern water supply and sewerage scheme. The neo-Jacobean Tankyard building, now known as Bedford Hall, included a 96 ft high water tower, erected in 1855, that supplied fresh water to the village. The building houses Thorney Heritage Museum, part of the Greater Fens Museum Partnership.

The windmill on the outskirts dates from 1787 and contains six floors; it originally had six sails. During the war four German prisoners of war used it as a base during the day while working the land.

Thorney railway station was on the old Peterborough to Wisbech line, with an additional station in the parish at Wryde. The station and the line were closed in the early 1960s. Little evidence to suggest a rail link now remains, apart from one set of wooden level crossing gates at the west side of Station Road; these gates are not the original ones, but replicas based on the rotten originals, installed by the developer that built houses on the site of the station yard in the early 2000s. The concrete posts are the originals, however.

On 28 August 1976, a United States Air Force Lockheed C-141 Starlifter, 67–0006, on a flight from McGuire Air Force Base to RAF Mildenhall crashed near the village; the aircraft entered bad weather and the pilots lost control of the aircraft. The accident killed all 18 passengers and crew on board.

A memorial is maintained on Thorney Dyke, for the lost aircrew.

Panavia Tornado ZA605 crashed on Wednesday 10 December 1986. The aircraft had taken off at 6pm for night flying in Scotland and collided at 6.06pm, when turning north. The Tornado hit another Tornado ZA611, which flew back, with part of the wing missing.

The Tornado crossed the A47, and skimmed rooftops, being seen by drivers. Five fire engines attended. The crew went to RAF Hospital Ely.

In 2010, planning permission was given for two wind turbines on land at French Farm, near French Drove in Thorney parish. In 2011 REG WindPower announced plans to install a further four wind turbines at the French Farm site.

As of 2013, other windfarms are proposed at Gores Farm, Willow Hall, Nuts Grove and Wryde Croft.