Burnham Thorpe is a small village and civil parish on the River Burn and near the coast of Norfolk, England. It is famous for being the birthplace of Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson, victor at the Battle of Trafalgar and one of Britain's greatest heroes. At the time of his birth, Nelson's father, Edmund Nelson, was rector of the church in Burnham Thorpe. The house in which Nelson was born was demolished soon after his father's death, though the rectory that replaced it and the church at which his father preached can still be seen. The site of the former rectory is marked by a roadside plaque.