Thorold the Sheriff a major 11th century landowner, is an ancestor of the Thorold family who live in Marston Hall near Grantham. There are various estimates of his year of birth from late tenth century to 1020. The plaque says that he was Sheriff of Lincolnshire from c1066 to c1083. The Marston Hall website says that there is a entry in the Domesday Book for Thorold Sheriff of Lincolnshire. This was in 1086. It is not clear when he died but some suggest that it was before the Domesday Book was compiled. He is also referred to as Thorold of Bucknall (Thorold of Mercia, de Bukenhale). His sister was Lady Godiva of Coventry fame who married the Earl of Mercia. In his role as Sheriff, he was the crown’s chief administrative and judicial officer in the county, a role his descendants continued to hold throughout the centuries.